Desert soilization: The concept and practice of making deserts bloom

Desert soilization: Let scientific principles and facts speak

“…It is common sense that groundwater conditions should be obtained by geological survey rather than judged by photos. The fact is that the site in the Ulan Buh Desert is not located in an area with the so-called “shallow groundwater.” Figure 1 D is a groundwater depth map from local authorities, which shows that our site is located in an area with the groundwater depth greater than 10 m. According to our geological survey data, the groundwater depth is greater than 15 m at the lowest position, which is completely different from their assumption of “about only 20 cm” or “usually less than 1 m” (the water in Figure H of Reference 1 resulted from watering for collecting sample plant roots). The desert near our site is barren ( Figures 1 A–1C), contrary to their claim that “natural plants thrive widely”(ordinary vegetation can hardly survive in desert where the groundwater depth is greater than 8 m).…”

“…As for the Ulan Buh Desert, even by the artificial lake in their Figure 1A (with its water level 14 m lower than the lowest altitude of our site), where the groundwater level is high and plants do grow, they can grow only after covered by a layer of borrowed soil under irrigation ( Figure 1 F). In our site, highly heat-tolerant plants 1 thrive widely without irrigation in an area with the groundwater depth greater than 50 m, which forms a sharp contrast with the barren desert nearby ( Figure 1 G).…”

“…Since 2016, desert soilization has been successfully conducted in various deserts, desertified land and islands, with a total area of 1,130 hectares. 1 Liu et al published a commentary in The Innovation ( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2022.100237 ) which attributed the success of desert soilization to “shallow groundwater”, and then questioned the principle, practice and innovation of desert soilization. We decided to refute.…”

“…We would like to point out that, besides in the Middle East and Africa, our soilization sites in China are distributed in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Xisha, Tibet, etc. 1 If they were rigorous enough, before they questioned our research, they should have at least been to one of these places to investigate for reliable, objective, and comprehensive information rather than provide such photos as those in their Figure 1 .…”

“…We have clearly pointed out that soilization has been successfully conducted not only in the Ulan Buh Desert but also in other deserts. 1 However, they only targeted the Ulan Buh Desert without mentioning other deserts. Those barren deserts do not have the so-called “shallow groundwater” nor are they near any river, lake, or pond.…”