2.3 - Iraqi Marshes Drought

Question 1

Importance Of (Mediterranean) Wetlands

Answer 1

Provide goods i.e. vegetation, animals and timber.
Provide services through nutrient cycling, water purification, Green Lungs, Scenery and Vegetation Cover.

Question 2

Nutrient Cycling

Answer 2

Forests provide leaf litter, which rots down into humus returning nutrients to the soil.

Question 3

Water Purification

Answer 3

Water slows down in wetlands where sediment is deposited and pathogens are eaten by animals.

Question 4

Green Lungs

Answer 4

Scrublands remove and store CO2 whilst letting out O2.

Question 5

Mesopotamian Marshes

Answer 5

Habitat to Marsh Arabs
Drained from 1950s to 1970s and then later evicted of Shia Muslims.
10% it’s original size
500,000 people reduced to 20,000
Become UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 but Turkey still dams the river
Increased salinity in marshes as water evaporated and sediment dissolves, fish die and water buffalo die.

Question 6

Key Principal Changes

Answer 6

Water withdrawal - less precipitation - less infiltration - less percolation - less GW rechage
Evaporation increases - Transpiration increases - Aquatic species die - Vegetation Dies

Question 7

Why Isn’t Iraq Resilient

Answer 7

Soil erosion removes key nutrients so vegetation is difficult to recover.
New water encourages more soil erosion.
Vegetation can’t just spawn in.