dust bowl
Parched, eroded plains
A dust bowl is a region where drought and poor land management have stripped away topsoil, leaving the land barren and prone to massive dust storms.
The term evokes ecological devastation—farmland turned to wasteland: Years of overgrazing created a dust bowl in the region. (Capitalized Dust Bowl is the specific 1930s American disaster.)
Prolonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- famineSevere food shortage
- devastationSevere widespread destruction
- desolationState of complete emptiness
Nutrient-rich surface earth
- wind erosionLand worn by air
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
- overgrazingExcessive pasture consumption
- overcultivationExhausting soil through excess
soil conservation · terracing · shelterbelt · windbreak · sod · prairie grass · sediment · particulate
drought
Prolonged water scarcity
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- famineSevere food shortage
- devastationSevere widespread destruction
desolation · farmland · barren · wasteland
topsoil
Nutrient-rich surface earth
- wind erosionLand worn by air
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
- overgrazingExcessive pasture consumption
overcultivation · soil conservation · terracing · shelterbelt · windbreak · sod · prairie grass · sediment · particulate · sandstorm
- barren landswasteland, wastelands, badlands, arid land, drylands
- arid landscapesdesert, badlands, sand dunes, dunes, salt flat
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- Droughtwater shortage, dry spell, dry spells, no rain, low rainfall
- Extreme Terrainabyss, arctic, Antarctic, Antarctica, Death Valley
- farm disasterscrop failure, crop blight, failed harvest, drought, locust plague
dust bowlbreadbasket
Major grain-producing region
granary · agricultural heartland · arable land · cropland · farm belt
dust bowlwetland
Waterlogged land ecosystem
swamp · floodplain · marsh · rainforest · irrigated land
dust bowlEden
Scriptural original paradise
paradise · green belt · conservation area · nature preserve · pristine wilderness