Thousands of kilometers of sand, burning heat, cacti - this is how we imagine the desert. However, in reality, everything is somewhat different: sand can be hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and instead of heat it can be cold.
Want to know the name of the largest desert in the world? We bring to your attention a list of 10 large desert places on Earth. Some record holders will surprise you.
List
- 10. Desert of the West of the USA (North America), 492,000 km²
- 9. Syrian desert (Eurasia), 520,000 km²
- 8. The Great Victoria Desert (Australia), 647,000 km²
- 7. Patagonian Desert (South America), 673,000 km²
- 6. Kalahari Desert (Africa), 900,000 km²
- 5. Gobi Desert (Eurasia), 1,300,000 km²
- 4. Desert of the Arabian Peninsula (Eurasia), 2,330,000 km²
- 3. The Arctic Desert (Arctic), 2 600 000 km²
- 2. Sahara Desert (Africa), 9,100,000 km²
- 1. Antarctic Desert (Antarctica), 13,829,430 km²
10. Desert of the West of the USA (North America), 492,000 km²
Large pool (so called this desert) covers most of Nevada, as well as parts of Utah, Oregon, Idaho and California. Typically, its eastern border is Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, and the western edge is formed by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, which create a rain shadow over most of the Great Basin, preventing many Pacific storms from entering the region.
The northern and southern borders, depending on how they are defined, range from the plain of the Snake River in the north to the Mojave Desert in the south. Surprisingly, at high altitudes there are forests that include the most durable living organisms on Earth - the Great Basin pines, which can live 4900 years.
People have long been part of the Great Basin ecosystem. Evidence of Native American habitation has been found long ago and is over 10,000 years old. These people lived in small groups, growing corn and pumpkin, and also hunted and collected pine nuts and crickets.
European explorers and trappers crossed the Great Basin in the 1700s, but settlers did not begin to arrive until the early 1800s. Mining cities flourished and disappeared from the 1870s to the 1930s when they searched for gold, silver and copper.
9. Syrian desert (Eurasia), 520,000 km²
A huge stretch of mostly barren land covering parts of four countries: Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Few plants and animals of the Syrian desert are of the type that can withstand the subtropical climate. Nomads breed sheep and camels and, depending on the season, move from one region to another across political borders in search of pasture.
IN Syrian empty phosphates, oil and butane gas have been discovered, and a modern road and rail network makes desert operation much easier than before.
8. The Great Victoria Desert (Australia), 647,000 km²
Great Victoria Desert forms one of nine different landscapes in the Alinıjar-Vilurara natural resource management region. It is Australia's largest desert, spanning over 700 kilometers.
This pristine desert includes red sand dunes, rocky plains and dry salt lakes. There are no lakes or other surface water, but even in this landscape there are aboriginal communities in Oak Valley, Vatarru and Valalkara who are used to surviving in such conditions.
7. Patagonian Desert (South America), 673,000 km²
Once covered in dense forest desert of patagonia has become a harsh and windy landscape spanning 673,000 square kilometers in southern Argentina and Chile.
It is characterized by a plain, grassy steppes and rocky foothills. Vegetation in the Patagonian desert is rare, with the exception of a few species of grasses and shrubs that have adapted to harsh conditions during evolution.
6. Kalahari Desert (Africa), 900,000 km²
Although Namibia is better known for being the home of the Namib desert, it should be remembered that most of eastern and southern Namibia is covered by another desert - Kalahari.
Kalahari is an unusual desert, because there is too much rain, but in fact it is a fossil desert. So do not expect to find high sand dunes: the landscape is completely different.
Kalahari Desert, or Kgalagadias it is called in Botswana, extends to 7 countries - Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In Namibia, it is called the “desert” mainly because its porous sandy soils cannot retain surface water, but in some areas the annual rainfall can reach 250 mm, which provides lush grass cover in good years.
Since the Namibian territory of the Kalahari desert is covered with trees, rivers and fossil waterways, a huge number of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, plants and insects thrive here.
5. Gobi Desert (Eurasia), 1,300,000 km²
Gobi - This is a large desert region in the north of China and in the south of Mongolia. The Gobi desert basins are bounded by Altai mountains and meadows, and the steppes of Mongolia in the north, the Tibetan plateau in the southwest and the North China plain in the southwest.
The word Gobi in Mongolian means "desert". It consists of several separate ecological and geographical regions based on climate change and topography.
The desert is best known as part of the great Mongol Empire, where there were several important cities along the Silk Road.
4. Desert of the Arabian Peninsula (Eurasia), 2,330,000 km²
Crawling along the Arabian Peninsula, the impressive beauty of huge plateaus, hilly sand dunes and high mountain ranges Arabian desertshe can amaze with a mysterious charm.
The Arabian desert is buzzing with life and activity: often ignored by tourists, this vast piece of land, stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and from Oman to Jordan, promises its own wonderful collection of wildlife and dramatic landscapes that compete with the best of African safaris.
With an ecosystem uniquely adapted to extreme conditions, one can witness some of the most stunning creatures of nature found only in the hidden corners of the Arabian desert.
From rare sightings of sand cats in Oman and a duel on Nubian goats in Jordan, to the Egyptian vultures of Saudi Arabia.
3. The Arctic Desert (Arctic), 2 600 000 km²
It is a cold desert because it receives very little rainfall - about the same as in the Sahara - but it is so cold here that snow covers the ground and forms ice.
Most heavy snowfalls occur at temperatures just below zero (-10 ° C or higher), as warmer air can hold more water vapor. Very cold Arctic air is not able to hold much moisture, so it doesn’t often rain or snow, which makes this place Arctic desert.
2. Sahara Desert (Africa), 9,100,000 km²
Sahara Desert extends over most of North Africa and covers more than 9,000,000 square kilometers (about the same as in the United States).
In fact, the Sahara covers about 30% of the entire African continent. It is the hottest place in the world with summer temperatures that often exceed 57 degrees Celsius.
From 0 to 25 millimeters of precipitation falls annually, and it is very windy, with hurricanes blowing sand to a height of up to 1000 meters and constantly moving sand dunes.
1. Antarctic Desert (Antarctica), 13,829,430 km²
The words “polar” and “desert” may seem contradictory, but this is only because most of us associate the latter with sun-drenched, sand-covered landscapes.
However, the desert actually describes any desert land that is anhydrous and without vegetation - and by this definition, the Sahara in Africa is even better for settlement than Antarctic polar deserts.
They cover a vast territory and cover an area larger than the Sahara, Arabia, Gobi and Kalahari combined, and its aptly named Dry Valleys have not seen rain for at least 2 million years.