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奧克拉荷馬的塵暴乾旱(Dust
Bowl)
您知道奧克拉荷馬境內曾經有過一個名叫「塵盆」的沙漠嗎？
1930年代，在奧克拉荷馬的巨大沙塵暴期間，空氣中充滿了非常多的灰塵，有時能見度會降至零，所有的東西都覆滿了沙子。無論奧克拉荷馬州的居民如何緊閉窗口，灰塵或沙子就是能夠飛進屋來。沙塵暴是長期乾旱及土地過度使用的結果。1930年時，這個區域先是發生了旱災。到了1934年時，旱災將大平原(Great
Plains)變成沙漠，這個沙漠就是有名的塵暴乾旱區(Dust
Bowl)。
乾旱情況最為嚴重的地區是奧克拉荷馬的潘漢德爾(Panhandle)。
南部平原的土地(含奧克拉荷馬在內)原本青草滿地，擁有良好的土壤。移民們使用他們帶來的傳統農業技藝，在自家農場上深耕作物。再加上表土早已遭受無限制放牧的牛、羊破壞。情況非常嚴重，所以到了1935年時，為改善狀況，政府發展變更該區基本農作方法的保護計劃。雖然有了這些方法，塵暴乾旱仍持續了約十年之久並延長了1930年代大蕭條(Great
Depression)的時間。
Did you know there was once a desert in Oklahoma called the Dust Bowl?
During the great dust storms of the 1930s in Oklahoma, the weather threw up so much dirt that, at times, there was zero visibility and everything was covered in dirt. No matter how tightly Oklahomans sealed their homes, they could not keep the dirt from entering. Dust storms were the result of drought and land that had been overused. Drought first hit the country in 1930. By 1934, it had turned the Great Plains into a desert that came to be known as the Dust Bowl.
In Oklahoma, the Panhandle area was hit hardest by the drought.
The land of the southern plains, including Oklahoma, was originally covered with grasses that held the fine soil in place. Settlers brought their traditional farming techniques with them when they homesteaded the area and they plowed the land deeply. The topsoil was already damaged by the overgrazing of cattle and sheep. The situation was so serious that, by 1935, the government developed conservation programs to improve the Dust Bowl by changing the basic farming methods of the region. Even with these measures, the Dust Bowl lasted about a decade and contributed to the length of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
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