Searching for water under the sands of Saudi Arabia

Water is scarce in arid Saudi Arabia. Now the king has hired a team of German scientists to search for groundwater trapped in aquifers beneath the massive kingdom's sands. Their pioneering work could provide solutions for other desert countries. German geologist Randolf Rausch, 59, is showing his visitors the desert. He walks nimbly across the narrow crest of a sand dune, pointing his toes outward like a ballet dancer. The wind blows away his tracks immediately and tugs at his green Tyrolean hat. The guests, who are from the southwestern German city of Darmstadt, trudge along behind him, panting in the silence. The air temperature in the Ad Dahna Desert at this time of the year is only about 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 20 degrees Celsius cooler than in the summer. The air is dry, clear and odorless. Rausch stops at the highest point on the dune and gazes out over a seemingly endless landscape of shimmering, copper-colored dunes. "This here," he says, with a strong Swabian accent, "is every geologist's dream." Source: Der Spiegel