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ORIGINAL: NeoBabylonian

Dear Calm:
I am very interested in your book, especially with the very interesting and wise stuff you have to discuss here. Can you tell me what it's about then please? Thanks you. [:)] 

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ORIGINAL: forstier

The river in the photographs – can you say what river it is? And, do you know what the water temperatures are?  With the silt in the river, are there fish there also? 

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In the picture of the marshlands, there appear to be savannah style trees, but otherwise unvegetated soil. Is this seasonally flooded? If it Is marshland, why is there no moisture or low vegetation visible? In a savannah you would usually find grass and mid height vegetation – but it looks as if there is none?

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The brick used in the older construction – do you know is it usually kiln fired – and is it a veneer of brick over another surface, or is it structural {ie the brick supports the roof and upper floor joists}? Do ou know what was used for mortar? – And – when they repair the brick today, what sort of mortar do they use?

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Does Basra have actual transportation canals – maybe the picture was a river?

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ORIGINAL: forstier
The brick used in the older construction – do you know is it usually kiln fired – and is it a veneer of brick over another surface, or is it structural {ie the brick supports the roof and upper floor joists}? Do ou know what was used for mortar? – And – when they repair the brick today, what sort of mortar do they use?

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[image]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/MM_Bi.jpg[/image]

Iraq is drained by the Tigris-Euphrates river system, although less than half of the Tigris-Euphrates basin lies in the country. Both rivers rise in the Armenian highlands of Turkey, where they are fed by melting winter snow. The Tigris flows 881 miles (1,417 km) and the Euphrates 753 miles (1,212 km) through Iraq before they join near Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab, which flows another 68 miles (109 km) into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, all of whose tributaries are on its left (east) bank, runs close to the high Zagros Mountains, from which it receives a number of important tributaries, notably the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Diyala. As a result, the Tigris can be subject to devastating floods, as evidenced by the many old channels left when the river carved out a new course. The period of maximum flow of the Tigris is from March to May, when more than two-fifths of the annual total discharge may be received. The Euphrates, whose flow is roughly 50 percent greater than that of the Tigris, receives no large tributaries in Iraq.

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The Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh ecoregion of the Middle East is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The rivers have several small tributaries which feed into shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes, all surrounded by desert. The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf, in an area called the Cradle of Civilization due to its ancient history.
In the 1980s this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran-Iraq War raged within its boundaries. It also faced one of the massive economic-environmental crimes in modern history: the destruction of Iraq's wetlands.
The general climate is subtropical, hot and arid. At the northern end of the Persian Gulf is the vast floodplain of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers, featuring huge permanent lakes, marshes, and forest. The aquatic vegetation includes reeds, rushes, and papyrus, which support numerous species. Areas around the Tigris and the Euphrates are very fertile. Marshy land is home to water birds, some stopping here while migrating, and some spending the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Other animals found in these marshes are water buffalo, two endemic rodent species, antelopes and gazelles and small animals such as the jerboa and several other mammals. Arabic is the main local language. It is estimated that fewer than 10,000 of the indigenous Marsh Arabs remain.
[image]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/MM_Ai.jpg[/image]

Ecological threats
Iraq suffers from desertification and Soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water is scarce and plant-life sparse. Government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. Population of Shi'a Muslims have been displaced. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable food.
Marshlands were a fine and extensive natural wetlands ecosystem. They developed over thousands of years in the Tigris-Euphrates basin and once covered 15–20,000 square kilometers. According to the United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between 84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 70s. In 1994, 60 percent of the wetlands were destroyed by Saddam Hussein's regime. They were drained to permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh Arabs. Canals, dykes and dams were built routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland. Some marshlands were burned and buried pipes underground helped to carry away water for quicker drying.

The drying of the marshes lead to the disappearance of the salt-tolerant vegetation, the plankton rich waters that fertilized surrounding soils, 52 native fish species, the wild boar, Red Fox, buffalo and water birds of the marsh habitat.

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ORIGINAL: abujassim

these pics r so good. can u pls tell me from where u get them? thank u.

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Iraq Mercury Poisoning Incident   During the winter of 1971-1972, mercury poisoning occurred in rural areas of Iraq. Wheat seeds, intended for crop planting, which had been treated with methylmercury as a fungicide, were distributed free in rural areas. Some seeds were ground into flour, baked into bread and consumed. Of an estimated 50,000 people exposed to the contaminated bread, 459 died, and 6,530 were hospitalized. This exposure also demonstrated the susceptibility of the fetus to in-utero exposure to methylmercury. 10 ppm mercury in maternal hair was shown to have an adverse dose-response by the children born after the exposure of the mothers. Studies of this exposure are the current basis for the U.S. EPA’s Reference Dose (RfD). Below is a dose-response developed based on the data from Iraqi exposure study.   In the Iraq poisoning, of an estimated 50,000 people exposed to the contaminated bread, 459 died, and 6,530 were hospitalized.

[image]http://enhs.umn.edu/hazards/hazardssite/mercury/iraqmercury.gif[/image]

[image]http://enhs.umn.edu/hazards/hazardssite/mercury/mercuryhair.gif[/image]