ARE DESERTS CREATED BY NATURAL FORCES O R BY MAN? DR. FAROUK EL-BAZ ENLISTS AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY TO KIND THE ANSWER.

To in v e s t ig a te E a r th 's d e s e r t s , D r . F a rou k E l -B a z b e g a n on M a r s .

Over two-thirds ol the worlds surface is covered by oceans. One-fifth o f the remaining land is desert. These figures are o f especial interest to Dr. Farouk El-Baz, whose native Egypt is 96 per cent desert.

Dr. El-Baz attempts to redress our limited knowledge o f deserts - o f their origins, their expansion, their possible reclamation. His task ;s an enormous one, for even a single desert cannot be covered in one researcher’s lifetime.

THE EARTH: DESOLATE AS

W INDSW EPT MARS.

But Dr. El-Baz, a geologist who emphasises the global picture, has aerospace technology on his side.

Indeed, it was photographs of the windswept surface o f Mars that first prompted Dr. El-Baz to s a y ,

were taken at ten-year intervals, Dr. ElBaz saw that sand dunes, like glaciers, have predictable movements - vital knowledge for siting desert roads, which are often buried.

Analysis o f global weather patterns and regional topography has led him to conclude, quite simply, “Deserts are not caused by goats eating the shrubbery. It’s the lack o f rain coupled with wind erosion that we should be blaming. It is scientifically evident that desertification is more affected by solar cycles than by man.’’

After many expeditions his understanding is growing. Aerospace technology is helping him uncover the mysteries o f the past. As for the present, he depends on the precise technology o f Rolex.

In the searing heat and the dust-storms o f earth’s most desolate regions, Dr. .?• Farouk El-Baz has found his Rolex ifijf - like the desert - to be predictable. R O L E X And enduring. o f Geneva

“ It looks like the desert o f my childhood in Egypt.’ Poring over Sahara pictures taken from space, he found subtleties that the geological maps cannot show: three distinct bands o f colour splitting the desert into different zones. One o f these, an earthyyellow zone, was good, fertile soil, ripe for reclamation - ana undetected throughout 7^000years o f Egypt’s history.

Again, comparing space pictures that

THE ROLEX OYSTERQUARTZ DAY-DATE CHRONOMETER IN 18CT. GOLD.

ALSO AVAILABLE IN I8CT. WHITE GOLD.