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Overview On Deserts Of The World

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Desert is defined as a location with fewer than 10 inches (25 centimetres) of annual rainfall. Deserts cover approximately a fifth of the Earth’s land surface and can be found on all continents. Semi Arid, Hot and Dry, Cold, and Coastal deserts are the four basic types of deserts that can be found.

In other words a desert can be defined as a land that is completely devoid of life. Almost all deserts are found between 15-30 degrees latitude north-south.

Different Types of Deserts:

  1. Hot and Dry Deserts: They are the hottest among all deserts. These are also known as arid or subtropical deserts. Year around, the temperature in these deserts is warm and dry.
  2. Semi-Arid Deserts: These are similar to hot and dry deserts, but the temperature in comparison to them is cooler.
  3. Coastal Deserts: These kinds of deserts are found near large water bodies. They are humid in comparison to the other kind of deserts. The Atacama Desert in South America is a coastal desert.
  4. Cold Deserts: These deserts are having extremely cold temperatures and dry conditions. Basically found in polar areas.

Important deserts of the world: 

1. Desert name: Sahara Desert

Area: 84,00,000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert:  Niger, Sudan, Mauritanian, Morocco, Mali, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.

Note:

  • It is the largest hot desert in the world.
  • It is the 3rd largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic desert in the world.

Desert type: Subtropical

2. Desert name: Australia Desert

Area: 1550300 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Great victorian, Simpson, Gibson, Stuart and great sandy desert areas together are called Australian deserts.

Desert type: Subtropical

3. Desert name: Arabian Desert

Area: 1300000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Gulf region of Saudi Arab and Na food region

Desert type: Subtropical

4. Desert name: Gobi Desert

Area: 1040000 sq. km 

Extension of the Desert: Mongolia and China

Desert type: Cold Desert

5. Desert name: Kalahari Desert

Area: 5200000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Botswana

Desert type: Subtropical

6. Desert name: Taklamakan Desert

Area: 337000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: China

Desert type: Cold Winter

7. Desert name: Sonoran Desert

Area: 310000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Mexico (US) in North and South America

Desert type: Subtropical

8. Desert name: Karakum Desert

Area: 270000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Turkmenistan

Desert type: Cold winter

9. Desert name: Thar Desert

Area: 260000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Northwest India and Pakistan

Note: It is the most populous desert

Desert type: Subtropical

10. Desert name: Somali Desert

Area: 260000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Somalia in Africa

11. Desert name: Atacama Desert

Area: 180000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Northern Chile in South America

Note: It is the driest desert of the world.

Desert type: Mild Coastal

12. Desert name: Kalkulam Desert

Area: 180000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Desert type: Cold Desert

13. Desert name: Dust-i-lut Desert

Area: 52000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Eastern Iran

Desert type: Subtropical

14. Desert name: Mojave Desert 

Area: 35000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: South California

Desert type: Subtropical

15. Desert name: The Sito De Sechura Desert

Area: 26000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Piura region in Northwest Peru in South America

Desert type: Coastal

16. Desert name: Patagonian Desert

Area: 673000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Argentina and Chile

Note: It is a cold desert

Desert type:  Cold winter

17. Desert name: Antarctica Desert

Area: 14,200,000 sq. km

Extension of the Desert: Antarctica

Note: 

  • It is a polar desert.
  • It is the largest desert in the world.

Desert type: Cold Desert

 


Last Updated : 29 Nov, 2022
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