Origination deserts

Occurrence. Iodine [7553-56-2] is widely distributed in the Hthosphere at low concentrations (about 0.3 ppm) (32). It is present in seawater at a concentration of 0.05 ppm (33). Certain marine plants concentrate iodine to higher levels than occur in the sea brine these plants have been used for their iodine content. A significant source of iodine is caUche deposits of the Atacama Desert, Chile. About 40% of the free world s iodine was produced in Japan from natural gas wells (34), but production from Atacama Desert caUche deposits is relatively inexpensive and on the increase. By 1992, Chile was the primary world producer. In the United States, underground brine is the sole commercial source of iodine (35). Such brine can be found in the northern Oklahoma oil fields originating in the Mississippian geological system (see Iodine and iodine compounds). 

Atmospheric dust of desert origin can have important effects on the pH of rainfall. In a study in Northern Israel, cloud droplets with pH as low as 2.5 changed in pH as they grew by condensation into raindrops to pH as high as 8.2 (26). The condensing raindrops had apparently scavenged dust... 

Axelrod, D. L 1979. Age and origin of the Sonoran Desert vegetation. Cahfomia Acad. Sci. Occas. Papers, No. 132 1-74. 

Madder, also known as Turkey red, is a scarlet dye extracted from perennial herbaceous plants of the order Rubiacea, of which there are about 35 species (Chenciner 2001 Farnsworth 1951). A well-known plant from this order is Rubia tinctorum, found naturally in Palestine and Egypt, abundant in Asia and Europe, and extensively cultivated in the ancient world, was widely used for production of the dye since remote antiquity. The use of madder for dyeing seems to have originated in the Middle East it was identified in many textiles found in Egyptian tombs and in woolen fabrics from the Judean Desert in Palestine. It was also used by the ancient Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Madder from other varieties of Rubiacea plants were used by the Incas in ancient Peru (Schaefer 1941 Fieser 1930). 

The United States and Turkey are the world s largest producers of boron.1 Economically important sources are from the ores rasorite (kernite) and tincal, which are both found in the Mojave Desert of California, with borax being the most important source there. The famous 20-Mule-Team Borax, now a part of chemistry folklore, originates from the time when teams of 20 mules used to haul colemanite from Furnace Creek in Death Valley 166 miles south to Mojave. Elemental boron in its impure form can be obtained by the reduction of the oxide B203 by magnesium, and in the pure form by the reduction of BC13 by hydrogen on hot filaments.1... 

However enthusiastic we may be about these discoveries and successes, we must not forget that ready-made peptides were used we know nothing about the formation and origin of such peptides on the deserted, desolate Earth. 

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) is a small, spineless cactus that grows in the deserts of northern Mexico and the Rio Grande valley (Anderson 1996 Schultes and Hofman 1980) (figure 9.5). It was originally classified as Anhalonium williamsii, until reassigned to the Lophophora genus. Another related species is Lophophora diffusa. 

Gardner, R.A.M. Pye, K. (1981) Nature, origin and paleoenvironmental significance of red coastal and desert dune sands. Progr. Phys. Geogr. 5 514—534... 

Although Afzelius refused to tell where he had found the mineral, W. Hisinger said that it must have come from a deserted mine at Skrikerum in the North Kalmar district. Berzelius then found specimens of it from this locality in the collections of the Bureau of Mines. Since it had been found at an opportune time, i. e., in time to be mentioned in his original paper on selenium, he named the mineral eucairite. In the same collection he also found a still richer selenium mineral, a copper selenide which is now known as berzelianite (28). 

The origin of Aeolian dust from Chinese desert to Japanese islands was studied with ESR of dust, mostly fine grains of quartz.132 Suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected by environmental protection agency was measured with ESR.133 Dust soot of automobiles was also measured to check the motor combustion rate. Adsorption of NO, Mn2+ and Gd3 on clay minerals, bentonite and se-piolite134 has been studied using paramagnetic ions as tracers for radioactive elements. And studies have been carried out on how divalent and trivalent cations diffuse and blocked by surrounding clay minerals, in the context of their leak from nuclear waste repository to the environment.135... 

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