Desert is a region which receives less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. Tremendous Variations in the day and night temperature lead to weathering of rocks resulting in the breakdown of rocks into fine particles.
Deserts are categorized into four:
- Cold Winter deserts- Temperature variation from season to season ranging from 100° F (38° C) in the summer to 10° F (–12° C) in the winter.
- Cool Coastal deserts – Temperature is cool due to of offshore ocean currents
- Polar deserts – Moisture in these areas is locked up in the form of ice and therefore they are considered to be deserts.
- Subtropical deserts are the hottest, with parched terrain and rapid evaporation.
Flora and Fauna
Due to extreme weather conditions the flora and fauna of deserts need to be adaptive to such extremes. Changes in morphology and physiology help them survive such conditions. Plants that are adapted to survive in such conditions are known as epiphytes.
The largest deserts on the earth surface are both polar deserts viz; the Antarctic Desert and the Arctic Desert.
Outside the polar deserts, the largest desert is Sahara Desert, a subtropical desert.
Enlisted are some of the deserts with their category and location
Name | Type | Location |
Colorado Plateau | Cold Winter | United States |
Gobi | Cold Winter | China and Mongolia |
Great Basin | Cold Winter | United States |
Kara-Kum | Cold Winter | Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan |
Atacama | Cool Coastal | Chile |
Namib | Cool Coastal | Angola and Namibia |
Arabian | Subtropical | Arabian Peninsula |
Kalahari | Subtropical | South Africa, Botswana, Namibia |
Mojave | Subtropical | United States |
Sahara | Subtropical | Northern Africa |
Thar | Subtropical | India, Pakistan |
Antarctic Desert | Polar | Antarctica |
Arctic | Polar | Alaska (United States), Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden |
Ten largest Deserts of the World
- Antarctic Desert , Antarctica
- Arctic Desert, Arctic
- Sahara Desert, Africa
- Arabian Desert , Middle-East
- Gobi Desert , Asia
- Patagonian Desert, South America
- Great Victoria Desert , Australia
- Kalahari Desert , Africa
- Great Basin Desert, North America
- Syrian Desert, Middle- East
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