Geographic location of Libya. Geographical location and natural and climatic conditions
1. Economic and geographical position……………………………………....3
2. Natural resources and conditions…………………………………………………...4
3. Characteristics of the population and labor resources……………………………….6
4. Largest cities………………………………………………………………….7
5. Structure of the economy………………………………………………………………8
6. Industry specialization………………………………………………..9
7. Specialization of agriculture………………………………………...10
8. Role in the territorial division of labor………………………………… 11
9. Prospects for development…………………………………………………………..12
10. Conclusion with an assessment of the positive and negative features of the economic and geographical position……………………………………………………. thirteen
Literature………………………………………………………………………….14
- Economic and geographical position
Prior to the development of oil fields, Libya was one of the poorest countries in Africa and did not have much prospects for economic development. Most of the Libyans were employed in agriculture, which is very unproductive due to the lack of rainfall and the lack of suitable land for cultivation. But by the mid-1960s, thanks to the development of oil fields, Libya was on a par with such countries as Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In 1983, per capita income rose to $8,480. The rapid development of the oil industry left all other sectors of the economy far behind. Libya's national industry is just beginning to take shape, and food still has to be imported to meet the needs of a growing population. Another problem is the lack of qualified personnel. In the late 1980s, more than 500,000 foreigners worked in Libya.
2. Natural resources and conditions
In Libya, there are well-known large genera. oil, natural gas, hall. ores and small genera. potassium and magnesia salts, soda, phosphate rock, gypsum, limestone, clay and coal. Mineral deposits also include marble, bentonite, silica sand, there are occurrences of gold and base metals.
Libya has large deposits of oil, natural gas, iron ores and small deposits of potash and magnesia salts, soda, phosphorites, gypsum, limestone, clay and coal.
86 oil and 8 gas fields have been discovered in the country in the oil and gas regions of Hamra in the west and Sirte in the east. The Hamra oil and gas region is confined to the eastern part of the Algerian-Libyan basin, filled with Paleozoic predominantly terrigenous marine and continental deposits up to 4 km thick, overlain in the north by sandy-argillaceous and calcareous deposits (up to 2 km) of Mesozoic age. Here, 35 oil and gas fields have been discovered in the Ordovician-Lower Triassic deposits. High porosity reservoirs (18-25%). The largest deposits are Hamra, Emgayet. Oils are light (up to 840 kg/m3), low-sulfur. In the oil and gas region of Sirt, which is part of the Caxapo-Mediterranean oil and gas basin, Cambrian-Ordovician sandstones, dolomites and reef limestones of the Upper Cretaceous, limestones and reef limestones of the Paleocene - Eocene (up to 12 horizons) are productive. The deposits are associated with gently sloping brachianticlines. Deposits are stratal domed (massive in limestones), mainly at a depth of 900-2500 m. 80 deposits have been discovered, incl. the giant Serir field and the largest (with recoverable reserves over 100 million tons) oil fields Amal, Nafura, Raguba, Intisar, Nacep (Zelten), Bakhi, Baxa, Samakh, Defa, etc., as well as the Khateiba gas field (339 billion cubic meters). m3). Light and medium oils (up to 860 kg/m3).
Coal reserves in the country are not estimated. Coal occurrences are established to the east of Murzuk, where a coal seam with a thickness of about 10 m (Zavila) occurs in the Nubian sandstones, in the north - a coal-bearing horizon in the Lower Cretaceous deposits (Nalut, Kikla, Tarhuna).
Deposits of iron ores of sedimentary type are concentrated in the Esh-Shati region. The ore-bearing strata of the Upper Devonian are represented by clayey-sandy deposits with interlayers of limestones and marls. The total length of the ore-bearing zone is 180 km, the width is 10-15 km, the thickness of the ore-bearing pack is 50 m. Five productive layers 4-9 m thick are identified in the section. Ores are represented by hematite, goethite, and siderite of oolitic structure. The largest deposits are: South Tarut (total reserves 640 million tons, Fe content 50%), Ashkeda (475 million tons, 51.7%), Ed-Duesa and El-Auja (700 million tons, 45%) and others
Gypsum deposits are confined to the Lower Jurassic deposits and are distributed in the northwest of Tripolitania, in the Er-Rumiya region.
The thickness of the gypsum-bearing stratum is 270 m. The deposits of potash and magnesia salts are associated with Miocene deposits in a drainless lake basin near the town of Marada. Soda is extracted from the lakes of the Murzuk depression, the largest lakes reach a size of 60x450 m at a depth of 0.5-1 m. The concentration of salts in the brine is 23-205 g / l of dry residue. When the lakes dry up, the thickness of the salt crust is 15-30 cm (the content of Na2CO3 is 34.1-66.5%). In Libya, deposits and manifestations of phosphorites are known in the deposits of the Upper Triassic and Maastricht-Paleogene age in the northwest. Lenticular industrial seams of sandy granular phosphorites have a thickness of 0.2-0.3 m, the content of P2O5 is up to 31.4%. Clay deposits are associated with deposits of the Lower Cretaceous in the area of the city of Garyan, limestone (for cement production) - with Miocene deposits in the area of the cities. Homs and Benghazi.
Mining. General characteristics. Libya's place in the global mining industry is determined solely by the oil and gas industry. Libya is one of the major oil producers: in 1981, it accounted for 2.7% of all oil production in industrialized capitalist and developing countries.
The extraction of natural gas is also important for the national economy. The main fisheries are located in the south and southeast of the Greater Sirte (map).
Other types of minerals available in the country, with the exception of building minerals, are practically not mined. It is planned to develop the iron ore deposit Esh-Shati by open method (1984). The number of people employed in the mining industry is 21.2 thousand (1980).
3. Characteristics of the population and labor resources
Due to rapid growth from 1973 to 1998, the population of the country increased from 2.2 to 5.7 million people. In the 1970s, the annual population growth rate exceeded 4%. According to estimates for 2010, 6 million 461 thousand people lived in the country.
The average life expectancy of Libyans is 77.47 years (women - 79.88 years, men - 75.18 years). Child mortality is approx. 20.87 deaths per 1000 births.
The average age of the Libyans is ca. 24 years old.
The vast majority of the population is concentrated in a narrow coastal zone and in oases. People are increasingly moving from rural areas to cities, by 2008 almost 78% of the population lived in the city.
Libya has two large cities - Tripoli (1.5 million inhabitants in 1990) and Benghazi (800 thousand inhabitants). There are also a number of small towns. These include Misurata (360 thousand people), Ez-Zawiya (280 thousand), Sebha (150 thousand), Tobruk (75.3 thousand), El Beida (67.1 thousand) and Ajdabiya ( 65.3 thousand). New cities arose near the oil terminals: Es-Sider, Ras-al-Anuf, Marsa-el-Bureika, Ez-Zuwaitina and Marsa-al-Kharig.
External migration of the population affects the labor market of the region, changing not only the quantitative characteristics of labor resources, but also the qualitative ones. Thus, external migration affects the size, natural movement and structure of the population, and, consequently, that part of it that acts as labor resources. Undoubtedly, external migration also changes the occupational structure of the population. In the region under study, people who have received higher education quite often leave their homeland. For example, according to the World Bank, 10.3% of all those who received higher education left Morocco, 9.6% - Tunisia, 6.5% - Algeria, 4.2% - Egypt, 3.8% - Libya.
4. Major cities
The largest city in Libya is Tripoli - the capital of the country and the center of the historical region of Tripolitania in the west of the country. The second largest city in terms of population is the city of Benghazi - the center of the historical region of Cyrenaica (Pentapolis) in the east of the country. Other relatively large cities are also located on the Mediterranean coast: Misurata and Homs in Tripolitania, Tobruk, Derna, Al Bayda, El Marj and Ajdabiya in Cyrenaica. The oasis cities of Ghadames, Sebha, Ubari and Vazin are characteristic of the interior desert regions of the country.
5. Structure of the economy
In addition to oil production, agriculture is an important component of the economy. The rural population cultivates the land in the narrow coastal strip of Tripolitania, using atmospheric precipitation in winter and irrigation from wells in summer. Around Tripoli, in the commercial horticulture area, citrus fruits, dates, olives and almonds are grown. In the southern oases, water from underground sources is used to irrigate fields. In the presence of a sufficient amount of precipitation, barley is cultivated on the periphery of the uplands. Arable land makes up only 1% of the country's area, and only 1% of it is included in the artificial irrigation zone. Since 1979, work has been underway to build a "great artificial river" - a conduit designed to transfer water from 250 underground wells from the Tazerbo and Sarir oases in the Sahara desert to the country's coast. By 1993, 1800 km of pipelines and canals had been laid, roads and reservoirs had been built. In Cyrenaica, crops, olives and fruit trees are cultivated on the Barka el-Bayda plateau. Libya has 8 million hectares of grazing land in Tripolitania and 4 million hectares in Cyrenaica. Nomadic pastoralists live in the region of the El-Akhdar plateau in Cyrenaica.
6. Industry specialization
The Libyan government is making efforts to expand and diversify the sectoral structure of the industry. In the early 1970s, new industries emerged, including cement and hardware. In subsequent years, a number of contracts were signed with Western European, Yugoslav and Japanese firms for the construction of several nuclear and thermal power plants, as well as heavy industry enterprises. At the same time, it was envisaged that some of these enterprises would use crude oil as a raw material. Among the largest enterprises in the manufacturing industry, the metallurgical plant in Misurata, which produced up to 1.5 million tons of steel and rolled products in 1996, plants for the production of pipes and electric cables stand out; assembly of cars and tractors has been established. The light and food industries are poorly developed. Traditional industries include the extraction of sea sponges, salt evaporation in the coastal zone and various handicraft industries: the manufacture of leather goods, copper, tin, ceramics and carpet weaving. There are also small enterprises in the processing of agricultural products, timber, paper, tobacco, textiles and soap.
The number of industrial workers is small, but is constantly growing as the oil industry develops and the construction of enterprises associated with the extraction and processing of oil. Since almost half of the people employed in the oil industry were foreign workers, in 1971 the government called on foreign companies to recruit as many Libyans as possible.
Unlike most countries in the region, Libya has a relatively developed manufacturing industry. The most important industrial enterprises were founded during the Italian colonial presence. The basis is formed by metal-working and machine-building enterprises of Tripoli. Although most of the equipment at the enterprises remains obsolete (sanctions from the international community), Libya not only provides itself with modern military equipment, but is also the largest exporter of weapons to African countries.
7. Specialization of agriculture
Agriculture employs 17% of workers, it gives 4.2% of GDP (in 2009).
Irrigated agriculture is developed in the northern part of Libya. Almost all year round potatoes, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, lemons are delivered directly from the field. There are several harvests per year. Crops are grown. Animal husbandry is represented by the cultivation of sheep and camels. Developed poultry farming. Water comes from underground lakes in the Sahara desert by gravity (water sources are half a kilometer above sea level). Tuna, sardine, squid are caught in the Mediterranean Sea. Libya's own production does not meet the country's food needs, most food is imported. Italian spaghetti, Polish milk and Ukrainian pork-free sausages are constantly on sale.
8. Role in the territorial division of labor
It is the export of oil and oil products that determines the place of Libya in the international division of labor. In this monocultural focus, Libya is similar to many other developing countries. But while most of the developing countries of Africa formed their monocultural economy in the colonial era, and this predetermined their place in the international division of labor, in Libya this process began in the 1970s. Until the 1960s Libya - one of the poorest countries in the world - had no chance at all to join the international division of labor. At the same time, the focus on oil exports creates restrictions for the country, as it makes the Libyan economy highly dependent on the situation on the world energy market, but, entering OPEC, the country is able to influence world oil prices and policy in this area as a whole.
Since the process of a clear focus on oil exports began only in the 1970s, it can be assumed that reforms aimed at diversifying the Libyan economy can be implemented more easily than in other African countries. In the future, Libya will take an important place in the international division of labor as an exporter of natural gas. Although Spain is now the only buyer of Libyan natural gas, plans are already being developed to develop the Libyan gas industry, in which
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Libya is located in northeast Africa. It is located between 19° and 33° north latitude and 9° and 26° east longitude. It is washed in the north by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The total area of the country is 1.759.540 km2. The total length of the land borders is 4.383 km. Including with such countries as: Algeria - 982 km, Chad - 1.055 km, Egypt - 1.150 km, Niger - 354 km, Sudan - 383 km, Tunisia - 459 km. Coastline of the country: 1.770 km.
Libya is dominated by barren and flat plains in the northeast with the vast Libyan Desert, the western part is covered by an elevated plateau with the deserts of Idekhan-Marzuk in the south and Aubari in the north. The highest point is Bikku Bitti 2.267 m, the lowest is 24 m below sea level. Arable land makes up 1%, but with a huge territory and a population of only 5.7 million people, it is enough to provide the country with food. On the Mediterranean coast, several crops are harvested a year.
More than 9/10 of the territory is occupied by desert and semi-desert spaces of the Sahara (in the east called the Libyan Desert). Plateaus and plains (200-600 m) alternate with basins (up to 131 m below sea level), low (up to 1200 m) mountain ranges and ridges with extinct volcanoes. Only the northern spurs of the Tibesti highlands rise higher in the southeast and extreme south, where the highest point of Libyan territory is located - Bette Peak (2286 m). Proved reserves of oil - 4130 million tons and natural gas - 1314 billion m3 (at the beginning of 2001, respectively, the first and third largest in Africa) stand out among the mineral wealth. Other resources are poorly explored. It is known about the reserves of iron ore with a volume of approx. 5.7 billion tons, magnesia (total reserves 7.5 million tons) and potassium (1.6 million tons) salts, the presence of phosphates, gypsum and raw materials for cement production, as well as other minerals.
Relief of Libya
Geologically, the territory of Libya is part of the northern slope of the ancient African platform, which was formed at the base by Precambrian crystalline rocks. The ledges of this crystalline basement are exposed in the south, in the center and in the southeast of Libya. Large depressions of the ancient basement (El-Hamra, Murzuk, Kufra oasis, East Libyan, etc.) are filled with sedimentary marine and continental deposits, and from the surface they are most often covered with sand accumulations. The central part of Libya is crossed by tectonic faults, in the area of which volcanic rocks come to the surface. The coast of the Mediterranean Sea is also bordered by faults, and a huge fault adjoins the Gulf of Sidra from the southeast - a graben filled with limestone and other marine sediments of the Mesozoic-Tertiary age. The richest oil deposits are confined to them: its reserves amount to more than 3 billion tons. In addition to oil, gas, various mineral salts, and gypsum, the bowels of Libya are also rich in ore minerals, but their exploration is still a matter of the future.
Most of the country's territory is plateaus and plains with heights up to 200-600 m, separated in separate areas by extensive underestimations. In the northwest, in Tripolitania, the Al-Hamra plateau stands out - a rocky desert composed of Cretaceous limestones. The northern edge of the plateau ends with the ledge of Nefus (height up to 719 m), which abruptly breaks off to the coastal plain - a continuation of the Tunisian lowland of Jefar. In the south, this plateau rises sharply above the huge Fezzan basins filled with giant accumulations of sands (edeyens) - Ubari, Murzuk.
Sand ridges here reach a length of tens and hundreds of kilometers and a height of 150-200 m. These two largest sandy massifs of Western Libya are separated by a narrow and low mountain range Amsak-Settafed. Western Libya is separated from the eastern part of the country by separate mountain ranges and ranges: the Tummo mountains near the border with Niger (1043 m), the Ben Guneima plateau (740 m) and the El Kharuj al-Aswad massif (1200 m) in the center of the country.
In the north of Cyrenaica, the mountains of Barka el-Bayda (average heights 500-600 m) are bordered off the coast of the El-Akhdar plateau (878 m). This name means "green mountains" and arose because here is the most lush subtropical vegetation in the country. The nature of the mountains contrasts strongly with the waterless desert surrounding the mountains of Barka el-Bayda.
The entire eastern part of the country, except for the mountains of Barka el-Bayda, is occupied by the harsh deserts of the Sahara, usually united under the name of the Libyan Desert. In its north, low-lying pebble-rubbly, almost lifeless expanses of the Serirs stretch. In the east, near the borders with Egypt, and in the south, these are almost entirely sandy deserts. In the extreme south, near the borders with Chad, rocky bare expanses of the Serirs reappear, and in the spurs of the volcanic Tibesti highlands, which enters Libya from Chad, there is the highest point of the country - the ancient Bette volcano (2286 m).
To the south of the mountains of Barqa al-Bayda, a tectonic depression extends, the level of which in some places drops to sea level, and near the border with Egypt, in the Jaghbub oasis, elevations are even several meters below sea level. In the low places of the Libyan Desert, where it is possible to extract groundwater even by the most primitive means, the largest oases have long appeared - Jaghbub, Tazerbo, Kufra, etc.
Soils of Libya
The soil cover is almost absent in most of the territory, which is occupied by lifeless spaces, mainly sandy, clayey, pebble-rubbly or stony and salt marshes. The exceptions are a narrow (8-15 km wide) strip on the coastal plains of the north, except for its middle part along the Gulf of Sirte, as well as oases in deep areas, usually low-lying, covered with fertile silty deposits. Only in the extreme east in Cyrenaica and in the west in Tripolitania does this fertile zone expand in places up to 40 km.
Climate of Libya
On the coast of Libya, the climate is Mediterranean subtropical, in the south - desert tropical with sharp seasonal and daily temperature fluctuations and low air humidity. The average temperatures in July are 27–29° C in the north and 32–35° C in the south; in January, 11–12° C in the north and 15–18° C in the south. Summer temperatures during the day are above 40–42° C, sometimes above 50 ° C. In 1922, a record high temperature of 57.8 ° C was recorded 80 km southwest of Tripoli in El Azizia. The largest amount of precipitation falls in the coastal regions of the country. The average annual rainfall in Benghazi is 250 mm, in Tripoli - 360 mm. A little more precipitation falls in the nearby mountains and on the Barqa el-Bayda plateau. In the rest of the territory there are areas where less than 150 mm of precipitation falls annually. On the coast, the rains fall during the winter months, and the summers are very dry and hot, with little to no precipitation. In desert areas, it is not uncommon for only 25 mm of precipitation per year to fall, and hot, withering winds with dust storms - ghibli and khamsin - are frequent.
With the exception of certain coastal regions, mountains and oases, the territory of Libya is characterized by an extremely dry climate and is unsuitable for agriculture.
Water resources of Libya
There are no rivers in Libya with a permanent flow, but there are numerous dry valleys of the ancient rivers of the Oueds, which, during periods of rainfall, are partially filled with rainwater for a short time. In the mountains of Barqa el Bayda, during the rainy season, some of the bridles resemble mountainous Mediterranean rivers, but in the dry season they are as lifeless as the desert bridles. The deserts, however, are rich in underground waters, significant accumulations of which are found under the edeyens and in sandy basins in the east of the country. Where water is close to the surface, oases and areas of irrigated agriculture have arisen.
Flora of Libya
The natural vegetation of the deserts is very poor - these are dry-loving thorny plants, saltwort, rare shrubs, single trees in the valleys of the oueds, where moisture is stored in the alluvium. Vast areas are almost completely devoid of vegetation. In more humid areas of the coast, on gray-brown soils and gray soils, cereals, tamarisks and other shrubs grow, as well as individual clumps of acacias. Between the zone of coastal subtropical vegetation and deserts stretches several tens of kilometers wide a strip of semi-desert vegetation with a sparse grass cover dominated by hard-leaved xerophytic grasses, wormwood and salt-loving plants.
In humid places near the coasts, small areas of wild forests, thickets of Phoenician juniper, maquis (dense evergreen shrubs and low trees - myrtle, oleander, pistachio), groves of Aleppo pine, acacia, sycamore (fig tree, or fig), tamarisk, olive, carob wood, cedar, cypress, holm oak, Euphrates poplar. Around the cities, plantations of eucalyptus, palm, pine, fruit trees and shrubs are expanding: pomegranate, apricot, citrus, olive, banana, almond, grape, laurel. It is mainly cultivated agricultural land, together with land in the interior oases, barely reaching 1.9% of the Libyan territory.
Animal world of Libya
The animal world is not diverse. Reptiles (snakes, lizards), insects and arachnids (scorpions, phalanges) predominate; from mammals - rodents, hares are less common, from predators - jackals, hyenas, red foxes, fenech (small representatives of wolves weighing up to 1.5 kg); wild boars are more common in the north, artiodactyls - antelopes, gazelles - in the extreme south. Birds (pigeons, swallows, crows, eagles, falcons, vultures) nest more in oases, mountainous areas and seaside. Many migratory birds from European countries also winter there. Coastal waters are rich - more than 300 species of fish, including commercial (anchovy, mackerel, tuna, horse mackerel, sardine, eel), as well as valuable types of sponges.
Few migratory birds pass over Libya, and some of them even winter here. There are many birds in oases, where they, especially passerines, cause great harm to poor crops. Small rodents are also a scourge, living everywhere, even in almost waterless parts of the desert.
The population of Libya
The relatively small population of Libya (6.5 million people) lives on a vast territory (1,800,000 km2). In the two northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, the population density is about 50 people/km². The rest of the territory accounts for less than one person per 1 km2. Nine-tenths of the population lives in less than one-tenth of the territory of Libya, mainly on the coast of the Libyan Sea. 88% of the population lives in cities, mainly in Tripoli and Benghazi. More than a third of the population is under the age of 15.
The population of Libya is homogeneous, the majority are Arabs, Circassians live in Tripoli and a number of large cities, Berbers also live in the southwestern part of Tripolitania, and a small Tuareg community lives in Fezzan. There are also small communities of Greeks, Turks, Italians and Maltese, the Greeks are mainly engaged in the extraction of sea sponges.
Sunni Muslims 97%, Christian (Coptic Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican) 3%, others - less than 1%.
Source - http://www.sqom.ru/saar/glivia.html
http://www.geografia.ru/Libya-Gmap.html
Libya is a relatively large Arab state located in the central part of North Africa on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The territory of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is 1,759,540 sq. km. On the African continent, it is second only to Algeria, Sudan and Nigeria in this indicator. The land border of Libya runs through the Sahara Desert. In the west, Libya borders on Tunisia (the length of the border line is 480 km) and Algeria (1200 km), in the south - on Niger and Chad (1200 km), in the southeast - on Sudan (470 km), in the east - on Egypt (1100 km). The total length of the land border of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is 4450 km. Thanks to such a convenient geographical location, Libya has been the center of attention of the world since ancient times. The oldest civilizations were born in it, and it was a link for trade caravans between Africa and Europe, as well as a trade market between north and south, which is why historians called Libya Africa's window to the world.
Fig 1. Map of Libya
A source: University of Texas Library: Geographic Maps Online. – http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/libya_pol93.jpg
Libya is predominantly a desert country. Over 95% of its territory is occupied by sandy and rocky deserts of the Saharan tropical desert region. Only in the western part of the Mediterranean coast (from the border with Tunisia to Cape El Bark) and in the east, the desert coasts are replaced by subtropical semi-deserts and even typical landscapes of the dry subtropics of the Mediterranean with forest and shrub vegetation. However, on the coast of the Gulf of Sidra and in the extreme east, the desert comes close to the sea.
The coast of Libya is poorly dissected. The only large bay of Sidra juts out deeply into the land, but is shallow off the coast. Low-lying sandy shores with small lagoons, swampy in places, are replaced by small rocky areas only where the mountains of Barka el-Bayda approach the sea. Most of the country's territory is plateaus and plains with heights up to 200-600 m, separated in separate areas by extensive depressions. In the northwest, in Tripolitania, the Al-Hamra plateau stands out - a rocky desert composed of Cretaceous limestones. The northern edge of the plateau ends with the ledge of Nefus (height up to 719 m), which abruptly breaks off to the coastal plain - a continuation of the Tunisian lowland of Jefar. In the south, this plateau rises sharply above the huge Fezzan basins filled with giant accumulations of sands (edeyens) - Ubari, Murzuk. Sand ridges here reach tens and hundreds of kilometers in length and 150-200 m in height. These two largest sandy massifs of Western Libya are separated by a narrow and low mountain range Amsak-Settafed. Western Libya is separated from the eastern part of the country by separate mountain ranges and ranges: the Tummo mountains near the border with Niger (1043 m), the Ben Guneima plateau (740 m) and the El Kharuj al-Aswad massif (1200 m) in the center of the country.
The subtropical climate of the Mediterranean type with a hot long dry period and warm, relatively humid winters is typical only for the coastal part of Tripolitania and the northern part of Cyrenaica. Average January temperatures here are 11-12 degrees, July 26-29 degrees. In the autumn-winter months, up to 250-350 mm of precipitation falls on the coast near Tripoli, and even up to 600 mm on the El-Akhdar plateau. Throughout the rest of the country, the climate is tropical, desert, exceptionally dry, with sharp daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations.
Average temperatures in January in desert areas are 15-18 degrees, in July 32-36 degrees. In summer, daytime temperatures are everywhere higher (40-42 degrees), and the average maximum is more than 50 degrees. But even in winter during the day, the air in the desert easily warms up to 25-30 degrees, although at night it cools to 0 degrees and below. The Tibesti recorded winter night temperatures below -15 degrees. Temperature contrasts during the day in winter reach 30-40 degrees, but in summer they often reach 20 degrees.
Almost everywhere in the deserts, the average annual rainfall is less than 100 or even 50 mm, and in a number of regions it does not rain for several years in a row. The Libyan desert is considered one of the most severe deserts in terms of climate. There are no rivers in Libya with a permanent flow, but there are numerous dry valleys of ancient rivers - oueds, which, during periods of rainfall, are partially filled with rainwater for a short time. In the mountains of Barca el Bayda, during the rainy season, some oueds resemble mountainous Mediterranean rivers, but in dry times they are as lifeless as the desert oueds.
The deserts, however, are rich in underground waters, significant accumulations of which are found under the edeyens and in sandy basins in the east of the country. Where water is close to the surface, oases and areas of irrigated agriculture have arisen.
Currently, one of the largest projects in the world for the construction of the Great Artificial River is under completion. The project involves the transfer of more than 6.2 million cubic meters of fresh water per day through a network of pipelines, which are up to 4,200 kilometers long. The source is underground lakes in the desert, from where water is sent to irrigate plantations on the coast and in cities for the needs of the population. The stock of underground reservoirs is 2.5 billion cubic meters.
Natural and climatic conditions are an obstacle to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, since the share of unproductive lands in the structure of the land fund of Libya exceeds 80%.
The natural vegetation of the deserts is very poor - these are dry-loving thorny plants, saltwort, rare shrubs, single trees in the valleys of the oueds, where moisture is stored in the alluvium. Vast areas are almost completely devoid of vegetation. In more humid areas of the coast, on gray-brown soils and gray soils, cereals, tamarisks and other shrubs grow, as well as individual clumps of acacias. The fauna of the deserts is also not rich.
The lack of fertile soils is compensated by rich reserves of natural resources and energy carriers. Libya is the undisputed leader on the African continent in terms of proven oil reserves. They range from 3.1 to 4.1 billion tons, or 2.2-3.0% of the world's proven oil reserves. In terms of explored oil reserves, Libya ranks fifth (after Saudi Arabia (25.2%), the United Arab Emirates (9.4%), Kuwait (9.3%) and Iraq (10.8%)) among OPEC member countries and ninth place in the world. In terms of explored gas reserves in Africa, Libya is in second place (1.47 trillion cubic meters). In addition, the country has other natural resources, such as iron, salt, pharmaceutical raw materials, there are reserves of silicon, limestone, gypsum, and natural fertilizers.
