jeff
At 10:55 PM 2/8/2004 -0700, Michael Farmer wrote:
This is not true! Waber is 18 hours in the sand dunes, and is small craters, not larger than Meteor Crater. What crap is this? Anyone elaborate? Mike Farmer ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Baalke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 10:47 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] Wabar Crater Under Threat From Vandals
> > > http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=39241&d=9&m=2&y=2004 > > Wabar Crater Under Threat From Vandals > Arab News > February 9, 2004 > > JEDDAH - Saudi Arabia has 'nothing' to offer the world > tourist. Whole deserts full of it. It has captivated the imagination of > explorers and visionaries for millennia and it is beginning to lose the very > quality that makes it special; the absence of everything else. > > One of Saudi Arabia's greatest geological wonders, essentially a large hole > in the ground, has finally proved too tempting as a rubbish tip. The Wabar > Crater is becoming a tourist attraction but is also attracting the attention > of graffiti writers and depositors of garbage. > > As part of the process of making this tectonic treasure much more accessible > and open to all to wonder at, paved roads now lead to the very edge of the > rim, affording a stunning view into the now dry lake bed 350 meters below. > The crater stretches over 2 km from rim to rim, far bigger than the meteor > impact site that is a major tourist attraction in Arizona. On the night of a > full moon, the pure white salt of the lake bed glows as if lit from within, > throwing a crepuscular glow onto the stark cliffs around. > > A few meters from the rim, lies a field of black lava, textured with > bas-relief ripples and swirls as if still liquid. Moonlight glistens on the > semi-polished surface of the flows, silvering the furrows and smooth curves. > Small caves, the result of huge burst bubbles of superheated steam, lie > open, roofs partly collapsed allowing rare views inside the lava mass. > Smaller caves and fissures are home to foxes and small mammals, their tracks > in the windblown sand betraying their occupancy. > > The total silence is broken only by the gentle rustle of a blue plastic > carrier bag as it tumbles in the night breeze, or the staccato clatter of an > aluminum can rolled over the cliff by a playful zephyr. > > The national tourist drive which provided the roads, has also spawned a rash > of startlingly ugly white rectangular sheds, placed there as protection from > the sun and for families to relax in and enjoy the scene. Large > white-painted surfaces also attract the semi-literate with their spraycans. > All of the white surfaces - and even the blue road signs indicating the > route to the crater - now display the scrawl of the graffiti writers. Some > have even ventured into the crater, leaving evidence of their passing > splashed on the cliff walls. > > In August last year, Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the > Supreme Commission for Tourism, said he believes that tourism will grow from > the bottom up. He sees a future where towns and villages will be able to > form a tourism council and develop a local tourist industry. By involving > the local people in the commerce of tourism and letting them benefit from it > financially, he said, they will realize its benefits. > > "They will also protect it. No one can protect the industry except people > who feel that it is theirs," he said. "It's a new decentralized approach - > the government within five years will literally be out of your hair. That's > what's planned, it's what we have announced and it's what the Council of > Ministers has agreed on." > > These are impressive objectives and there are places in the Kingdom that > equal any of the heavily protected World Heritage Sites found elsewhere on > the planet. > > The man with the spraycan or the individual who is willing to dump a > truckload of industrial garbage in a beauty spot clearly has no > understanding of the value of the site and is ahead of the game. His efforts > to leave his own unique "footprints in the sands of time" have overtaken > attempts at conservation through restriction of access or by educating > people to appreciate their heritage. > > The individual who litters with drinks cans and plastic bags is willfully > careless of the fact that others, who have the same wish to visit a site of > great beauty, might not wish to sit in a half-eaten kabsa or swat itinerant > plastic bags. If this behavior goes on for five years, the damage to the > tourist attraction might be so great that it cannot be reversed. > > "It's nothing to be ashamed of if you are selective about the kind of > tourist you want, especially in a country like Saudi Arabia," said Prince > Sultan. "We are not the kind of country that has to have tourists at any > cost or at any price." > > Again, these are right and noble ideals. But the sad truth is that until > environmental education gets through to the average citizen, the unique > wilderness heritage of the Kingdom will be under greater threat from the > indigenous rather than the foreign tourist. > > It seems that as long as a carload of individuals can drive right to the > edge of the crater, treat it as a dining area or rubbish tip and then > disappear back home with ease thanks to an open road, the preservation of > the wilderness will be under threat. Its survival requires responsibility > and an appreciation of nature that some people simply do not have. > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list >
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Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman phone: (703) 648-6184 US Geological Survey fax: (703) 648-6383 954 National Center Reston, VA 20192, USA
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