Garden oasis in Riyadh, which will resurrect the Jurassic era in the middle of the desert

The natural conditions of the Arabian Peninsula, most of which is occupied by Saudi Arabia, cannot be called favorable. High air temperatures, an insignificant amount of precipitation, a lack of fresh water and barren sandy soil - this is how we briefly describe the living conditions in this country. But, as scientists assure, this was not always the case, and once upon a time there were tropical forests full of life on the site of modern sand. In Riyadh, they decided to revive a piece of this ancient, beautiful world, creating an oasis garden in the desert, using original architectural solutions and the latest engineering achievements.

Interestingly, the name of the capital of Saudi Arabia - the city of Riyadh - translates as "gardens", and soon an original garden will really appear here. The authors of the project, entitled "King Abdullah's International Gardens," were engineers from the UK and Denmark. The grandiose complex will occupy an area of about 200 hectares in the suburbs of the capital and will consist of several zones.

In the central part of the gardens, it is planned to arrange closed pavilions - greenhouses with hygrophilous plants, a natural history museum, entertainment areas for children and recreation areas. It is planned that the plants collected in this garden will emit flora of the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods, when tropical forests grew on the Arabian Peninsula, and visitors can feel like time travelers. The central building will be in the shape of a crescent, and in the open air will be located another part of the gardens. Here they plan to place a park area with plants and aviaries, where exotic animals and birds will live. Plants for an outdoor garden will be selected from the flora of deserts and semi-deserts, which are adapted to hot and dry climates.

Engineers also took care of saving water, and, as you know, it is worth its weight in gold in the desert. For irrigation of plants and water supply of the entire complex will use water from deep underground horizons. The used water will be sent for cleaning and reused, and a special moisture trapping system will help to avoid the loss of precious moisture due to evaporation.

The project "International Gardens of King Abdullah" pursues several goals at once. This is an educational center for children, and the future place of attraction for tourists. But, the main thing that the authors of this project wanted to show is how large-scale the processes of climate change on the planet can be. Existing ecosystems of the Earth are subject not only to climatic, but also to anthropogenic influences. It is for this reason that mankind should ponder and prevent catastrophic changes in the future.