Soil Salinity of Mesopotamia and the Main Drains

• Since early civilization and the farmers in Mesopotamia are suffering from the soil salinity. This problem had caused the transfer of power from the Sumerians to the Babylonians in ancient history. Great efforts and research have been made since the beginning of the 20th century to overcome this salinity problem. Experts have concluded that the main reason for salinity is the salt content of irrigation water and the shallow saline groundwater derived from the irrigation activities. General schemes were planned, which involve building a new system of drains in parallel to the irrigation network. The backbone of the drainage system in Mesopotamia is the Main Outfall Drain (MOD). Large works such as Musayab Main Drain, Main Outfall Drain, Great Gharraf Drain, East Euphrates Drain were implemented, but there are still large needs for much more work to be done.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Geoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Geotechnical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Soil Salinity

Musayab Main Drain

Main Outfall Drain

MOD

Great Gharraf Drain

East Euphrates Drain

Soil Mechanics

Geoteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)