Desert

A desert is a landscape where little

precipitation occurs and, consequently, living
conditions create unique biomes and
ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the
unprotected surface of the ground to
denudation. About one-third of the land surface
of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes
much of the polar regions, where little
precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes
called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts
can be classified by the amount of precipitation
Sand dunes in the Rub' al Khali ("Empty quarter") of Arabia
that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by
the causes of desertification or by their
geographical location.[1]

Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night
strain the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are
occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter,
and the resulting fragments and rubble strewn over the desert floor are further eroded by the wind. This
picks up particles of sand and dust, which can remain airborne for extended periods – sometimes causing
the formation of sand storms or dust storms. Wind-blown sand grains striking any solid object in their
path can abrade the surface. Rocks are smoothed down, and the wind sorts sand into uniform deposits.
The grains end up as level sheets of sand or are piled high in billowing dunes. Other deserts are flat, stony
plains where all the fine material has been blown away and the surface consists of a mosaic of smooth
stones, often forming desert pavements, and little further erosion occurs. Other desert features include
rock outcrops, exposed bedrock and clays once deposited by flowing water. Temporary lakes may form
and salt pans may be left when waters evaporate. There may be underground water sources in the form of
springs and seepages from aquifers. Where these are found, oases can occur.

Plants and animals living in the desert need special adaptations to survive in the harsh environment.
Plants tend to be tough and wiry with small or no leaves, water-resistant cuticles, and often spines to
deter herbivory. Some annual plants germinate, bloom, and die within a few weeks after rainfall, while
other long-lived plants survive for years and have deep root systems that are able to tap underground
moisture. Animals need to keep cool and find enough food and water to survive. Many are nocturnal and
stay in the shade or underground during the day's heat. They tend to be efficient at conserving water,
extracting most of their needs from their food and concentrating their urine. Some animals remain in a
state of dormancy for long periods, ready to become active again during the rare rainfall. They then
reproduce rapidly while conditions are favorable before returning to dormancy.

People have struggled to live in deserts and the surrounding semi-arid lands for millennia. Nomads have
moved their flocks and herds to wherever grazing is available, and oases have provided opportunities for a
more settled way of life. The cultivation of semi-arid regions encourages erosion of soil and is one of the
causes of increased desertification. Desert farming is possible with the aid of irrigation, and the Imperial
Valley in California provides an example of how previously barren land can be made productive by the
import of water from an outside source. Many trade routes have been forged across deserts, especially
across the Sahara, and traditionally were used by caravans of camels carrying salt, gold, ivory and other
goods. Large numbers of slaves were also taken northwards across the Sahara. Some mineral extraction
also takes place in deserts, and the uninterrupted sunlight gives potential for capturing large quantities of
solar energy.

Etymology
English desert and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and
Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical Latin dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a
participle of dēserere, "to abandon".[2] The correlation between aridity and sparse population is complex
and dynamic, varying by culture, era, and technologies; thus the use of the word desert can cause
confusion. In English before the 20th century, desert was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area",
without specific reference to aridity;[2] but today the word is most often used in its climate-science sense
(an area of low precipitation).[3] Phrases such as "desert island"[4] and "Great American Desert", or
Shakespeare's "deserts of Bohemia" (The Winter's Tale) in previous centuries did not necessarily imply
sand or aridity; their focus was the sparse population.[5]

Major deserts

The world's largest non-polar deserts

Deserts occupy about one third of Earth's land surface.[6] Bottomlands may be salt-covered flats. Eolian
processes are major factors in shaping desert landscapes. Polar deserts (also seen as "cold deserts") have
similar features, except the main form of precipitation is snow rather than rain. Antarctica is the world's
largest cold desert (composed of about 98% thick continental ice sheet and 2% barren rock). Some of the
barren rock is to be found in the so-called Dry Valleys of Antarctica that almost never get snow, which can
have ice-encrusted saline lakes that suggest evaporation far greater than the rare snowfall due to the
strong katabatic winds that even evaporate ice.
 The ten largest deserts[7]

Rank Desert Area (km2) Area (sqmi)

1 Antarctic Desert (Antarctica) 14,200,000 5,482,651

2 Arctic Desert (Arctic) 13,900,000 5,366,820

3 Sahara Desert (Africa) 9,200,000 3,552,140

4 Great Australian (Australia) 2,700,000 1,042,476

5 Arabian Desert (Middle East) 2,330,000 899,618

6 Gobi Desert (Asia) 1,295,000 500,002

7 Kalahari Desert (Africa) 900,000 347,492

8 Patagonian Desert (South America) 673,000 259,847

9 Syrian Desert (Middle East) 500,000 193,051

10 Great Basin Desert (North America) 490,000 190,000

Deserts, both hot and cold, play a part in moderating Earth's temperature, because they reflect more of
the incoming light and their albedo is higher than that of forests or the sea.[8]

Defining characteristics
A desert is a region of land that is very dry because it receives low amounts of precipitation (usually in the
form of rain, but it may be snow, mist or fog), often has little coverage by plants, and in which streams dry
up unless they are supplied by water from outside the area.[9] Deserts generally receive less than 250 mm
(10 in) of precipitation each year.[9] The potential evapotranspiration may be large but (in the absence of
available water) the actual evapotranspiration may be close to zero.[10] Semi-deserts are regions which
receive between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and when clad in grass, these are known as steppes.[11][6]
Most deserts on Earth such as the Sahara Desert, Grand Australian Desert and the Great Basin Desert,
occur in low altitudes.[12]

Water
One of the driest places on Earth is the Atacama
Desert.[13][14][15][16][17] It is virtually devoid of life because it is
blocked from receiving precipitation by the Andes mountains to
the east and the Chilean Coast Range to the west. The cold
Humboldt Current and the anticyclone of the Pacific are essential
to keep the dry climate of the Atacama. The average precipitation
in the Chilean region of Antofagasta is just 1 mm (0.039 in) per
year. Some weather stations in the Atacama have never received
Atacama, the world's driest non-polar
rain. Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any
desert, part of the Arid Diagonal of South
significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. It is so arid that mountains
America
that reach as high as 6,885 m (22,589 ft) are completely free of
glaciers and, in the southern part from 25°S to 27°S, may have
been glacier-free throughout the Quaternary, though permafrost extends down to an altitude of 4,400 m
(14,400 ft) and is continuous above 5,600 m (18,400 ft).[18][19] Nevertheless, there is some plant life in
the Atacama, in the form of specialist plants that obtain moisture from dew and the fogs that blow in from
the Pacific.[13]
When rain falls in deserts, as it occasionally does, it is often with
great violence. The desert surface is evidence of this with dry
stream channels known as arroyos or wadis meandering across its
surface. These can experience flash floods, becoming raging
torrents with surprising rapidity after a storm that may be many
kilometers away. Most deserts are in basins with no drainage to
the sea but some are crossed by exotic rivers sourced in mountain
ranges or other high rainfall areas beyond their borders. The
River Nile, the Colorado River and the Yellow River do this, losing
much of their water through evaporation as they pass through the Flash flood in the Gobi
desert and raising groundwater levels nearby. There may also be
underground sources of water in deserts in the form of springs,
aquifers, underground rivers or lakes. Where these lie close to the surface, wells can be dug and oases may
form where plant and animal life can flourish.[20] The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System under the
Sahara Desert is the largest known accumulation of fossil water. The Great Man-Made River is a scheme
launched by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to tap this aquifer and supply water to coastal cities.[21] Kharga
Oasis in Egypt is 150 km (93 mi) long and is the largest oasis in the Libyan Desert. A lake occupied this
depression in ancient times and thick deposits of sandy-clay resulted. Wells are dug to extract water from
the porous sandstone that lies underneath. Seepages may occur in the walls of canyons and pools may
survive in deep shade near the dried up watercourse below.[22]

Lakes may form in basins where there is sufficient precipitation or

meltwater from glaciers above. They are usually shallow and
saline, and wind blowing over their surface can cause stress,
moving the water over nearby low-lying areas. When the lakes dry
up, they leave a crust or hardpan behind. This area of deposited
clay, silt or sand is known as a playa. The deserts of North
America have more than one hundred playas, many of them relics
of Lake Bonneville which covered parts of Utah, Nevada and
Idaho during the last ice age when the climate was colder and
wetter.[23] These include the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier
Lake and many dry lake beds. The smooth flat surfaces of playas Desert Lake, near Ragtown, Nevada
have been used for attempted vehicle speed records at Black Rock
Desert and Bonneville Speedway and the United States Air Force
uses Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert as runways for aircraft and the Space Shuttle.[20]

Classification
Deserts have been defined and classified in a number of ways,
generally combining total precipitation, number of days on which
this falls, temperature, and humidity, and sometimes additional
factors.[6] For example, Phoenix, Arizona, receives less than
250 mm (9.8 in) of precipitation per year, and is immediately
recognized as being located in a desert because of its aridity-
adapted plants. The North Slope of Alaska's Brooks Range also
receives less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of precipitation per year and is
often classified as a cold desert.[24] Other regions of the world The Sahara is the largest hot desert in
have cold deserts, including areas of the Himalayas[25] and other the world
high-altitude areas in other parts of the world. [26] Polar deserts
cover much of the ice-free areas of the Arctic and Antarctic.[27][28]
A non-technical definition is that deserts are those parts of Earth's surface that have insufficient
vegetation cover to support a human population.[29]
Potential evapotranspiration supplements the measurement of precipitation in providing a scientific
measurement-based definition of a desert. The water budget of an area can be calculated using the
formula P − PE ± S, wherein P is precipitation, PE is potential evapotranspiration rates and S is the
amount of surface storage of water. Evapotranspiration is the combination of water loss through
atmospheric evaporation and through the life processes of plants. Potential evapotranspiration, then, is
the amount of water that could evaporate in any given region. As an example, Tucson, Arizona receives
about 300 mm (12 in) of rain per year, however about 2,500 mm (98 in) of water could evaporate over the
course of a year.[30] In other words, about eight times more water could evaporate from the region than
actually falls as rain. Rates of evapotranspiration in cold regions such as Alaska are much lower because of
the lack of heat to aid in the evaporation process.[31]

Deserts are sometimes classified as "hot" or "cold", "semiarid" or "coastal".[29] The characteristics of hot
deserts include high temperatures in summer; greater evaporation than precipitation, usually exacerbated
by high temperatures, strong winds and lack of cloud cover; considerable variation in the occurrence of
precipitation, its intensity and distribution; and low humidity. Winter temperatures vary considerably
between different deserts and are often related to the location of the desert on the continental landmass
and the latitude. Daily variations in temperature can be as great as 22 °C (40 °F) or more, with heat loss
by radiation at night being increased by the clear skies.[32]

Cold deserts, sometimes known as temperate deserts, occur at

higher latitudes than hot deserts, and the aridity is caused by the
dryness of the air. Some cold deserts are far from the ocean and
others are separated by mountain ranges from the sea, and in
both cases, there is insufficient moisture in the air to cause much
precipitation. The largest of these deserts are found in Central
Asia. Others occur on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains,
the eastern side of the southern Andes and in southern
Australia.[11] Polar deserts are a particular class of cold desert.
The air is very cold and carries little moisture so little Cold desert: snow surface at Dome C
precipitation occurs and what does fall, usually snow, is carried Station, Antarctica
along in the often strong wind and may form blizzards, drifts and
dunes similar to those caused by dust and sand in other desert
regions. In Antarctica, for example, the annual precipitation is about 50 mm (2 in) on the central plateau
and some ten times that amount on some major peninsulas.[32]

Based on precipitation alone, hyperarid deserts receive less than 25 mm (1 in) of rainfall a year; they have
no annual seasonal cycle of precipitation and experience twelve-month periods with no rainfall at
all.[32][33] Arid deserts receive between 25 and 200 mm (1 and 8 in) in a year and semiarid deserts
between 200 and 500 mm (8 and 20 in). However, such factors as the temperature, humidity, rate of
evaporation and evapotranspiration, and the moisture storage capacity of the ground have a marked effect
on the degree of aridity and the plant and animal life that can be sustained. Rain falling in the cold season
may be more effective at promoting plant growth, and defining the boundaries of deserts and the semiarid
regions that surround them on the grounds of precipitation alone is problematic.[32]

A semi-arid desert or a steppe is a version of the arid desert with much more rainfall, vegetation and
higher humidity. These regions feature a semi-arid climate and are less extreme than regular deserts.[34]
Like arid deserts, temperatures can vary greatly in semi deserts. They share some characteristics of a true
desert and are usually located at the edge of deserts and continental dry areas. They usually receive
precipitation from 250 to 500 mm (9.8 to 19.7 in) but this can vary due to evapotranspiration and soil
nutrition. Semi-deserts can be found in the high elevations of the Tabernas Desert (and some parts of the
Spanish Plateau), The Sahel, The Eurasian Steppe, most of Central Asia, the Western US, most of
Northern Mexico, portions of South America (especially in Argentina) and the Australian Outback.[35]
They usually feature BSh (hot steppe) or BSk (temperate steppe) in the Köppen climate classification.
Coastal deserts are mostly found on the western edges of
continental land masses in regions where cold currents approach
the land or cold water upwellings rise from the ocean depths. The
cool winds crossing this water pick up little moisture and the
coastal regions have low temperatures and very low rainfall, the
main precipitation being in the form of fog and dew. The range of
temperatures on a daily and annual scale is relatively low, being
11 °C (20 °F) and 5 °C (9 °F) respectively in the Atacama Desert.
Deserts of this type are often long and narrow and bounded to the
Semi-arid Niger
east by mountain ranges. They occur in Namibia, Chile, southern
California and Baja California. Other coastal deserts influenced by
cold currents are found in Western Australia, the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, and the western
fringes of the Sahara.[32]

In 1961, Peveril Meigs divided desert regions on Earth into three categories according to the amount of
precipitation they received. In this now widely accepted system, extremely arid lands have at least twelve
consecutive months without precipitation, arid lands have less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of annual
precipitation, and semiarid lands have a mean annual precipitation of between 250 and 500 mm (9.8 and
19.7 in). Both extremely arid and arid lands are considered to be deserts while semiarid lands are
generally referred to as steppes when they are grasslands.[6]

Deserts are also classified, according to their geographical

location and dominant weather pattern, as trade wind, mid-
latitude, rain shadow, coastal, monsoon, or polar deserts.[36]
Trade wind deserts occur either side of the horse latitudes at 30°
to 35° North and South. These belts are associated with the
subtropical anticyclone and the large-scale descent of dry air. The
Sahara Desert is of this type. Mid-latitude deserts occur between
30° and 50° North and South. They are mostly in areas remote
from the sea where most of the moisture has already precipitated
from the prevailing winds. They include the Tengger and Sonoran
The Agasthiyamalai hills cut off
Tirunelveli in India from the monsoons, Deserts.[36] Monsoon deserts are similar. They occur in regions
creating a rainshadow region. where large temperature differences occur between sea and land.
Moist warm air rises over the land, deposits its water content and
circulates back to sea. Further inland, areas receive very little
precipitation. The Thar Desert near the India/Pakistan border is of this type.[36]

In some parts of the world, deserts are created by a rain shadow effect. Orographic lift occurs as air
masses rise to pass over high ground. In the process they cool and lose much of their moisture by
precipitation on the windward slope of the mountain range. When they descend on the leeward side, they
warm and their capacity to hold moisture increases so an area with relatively little precipitation
occurs.[37] The Taklamakan Desert is an example, lying in the rain shadow of the Himalayas and receiving
less than 38 mm (1.5 in) precipitation annually.[38] Other areas are arid by virtue of being a very long way
from the nearest available sources of moisture.[39]

Montane deserts are arid places with a very high altitude; the most prominent example is found north of
the Himalayas, in the Kunlun Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. Many locations within this category
have elevations exceeding 3,000 m (9,800 ft) and the thermal regime can be hemiboreal. These places
owe their profound aridity (the average annual precipitation is often less than 40 mm or 1.5 in) to being
very far from the nearest available sources of moisture and are often in the lee of mountain ranges.
Montane deserts are normally cold, or may be scorchingly hot by day and very cold by night as is true of
the northeastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.[40]
Polar deserts such as McMurdo Dry Valleys remain ice-free
because of the dry katabatic winds that flow downhill from the
surrounding mountains.[41] Former desert areas presently in non-
arid environments, such as the Sandhills in Nebraska, are known
as paleodeserts.[36] In the Köppen climate classification system,
deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate
desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts
would be classified as arid megathermal climates.[42][43]
A montane desert
Polar desert
Polar deserts are a type of cold desert. While they do not lack water, having a persistent cover of snow and
ice, this is merely due to marginal evaporation rates and low precipitation.

The McMurdo dry valleys of Antarctica, which lack water (whether rain, ice, or snow) much like a non-
polar desert and even have such desert features as hypersaline lakes and intermittent streams that
resemble (except for being frozen at their surfaces) hot or cold deserts for extreme aridity and lack of
precipitation of any kind. Extreme winds and not seasonal heat desiccate these nearly-lifeless terrains.

Biological desert
The concept of "biological desert" redefines the concept of desert,
without the characteristic of aridity, not lacking water, but instead
lacking life. Such places can be so-called "ocean deserts", which
are mostly at the centers of gyres, but also hypoxic or anoxic
waters such as dead zones.[44][45][46]

An animation of a year in organism

Morphology density on Earth. The South Pacific Gyre
is an example of a so-called "oceanic
desert", visibly low (purple) in organism
density. Polar deserts are visible in
Weathering processes consistent white and arid deserts in
Deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature consistent brown, with tundras oscillating
range, with high daytime temperatures falling sharply at night. between white and brown.
The diurnal range may be as much as 20 to 30 °C (36 to 54 °F)
and the rock surface experiences even greater temperature
differentials.[47] During the day the sky is usually clear and most
of the sun's radiation reaches the ground, but as soon as the sun
sets, the desert cools quickly by radiating heat into space. In hot
deserts, the temperature during daytime can exceed 45 °C (113 °F)
in summer and plunge below freezing point at night during
winter.[48]

Such large temperature variations have a destructive effect on the

Exfoliation of weathering rocks in Texas,
exposed rocky surfaces. The repeated fluctuations put a strain on
US
exposed rock and the flanks of mountains crack and shatter.
Fragmented strata slide down into the valleys where they
continue to break into pieces due to the relentless sun by day and chill by night. Successive strata are
exposed to further weathering. The relief of the internal pressure that has built up in rocks that have been
underground for aeons can cause them to shatter.[49] Exfoliation also occurs when the outer surfaces of
rocks split off in flat flakes. This is believed to be caused by the stresses put on the rock by repeated
thermal expansions and contractions which induces fracturing parallel to the original surface.[47]
 Chemical weathering processes probably play a more important role in
deserts than was previously thought. The necessary moisture may be
present in the form of dew or mist. Ground water may be drawn to the
surface by evaporation and the formation of salt crystals may dislodge rock
particles as sand or disintegrate rocks by exfoliation. Shallow caves are
sometimes formed at the base of cliffs by this means.[47]

As the desert mountains decay, large areas of shattered rock and rubble
occur. The process continues and the end products are either dust or sand.
Dust is formed from solidified clay or volcanic deposits whereas sand
One square centimeter results from the fragmentation of harder granites, limestone and
(0.16 sq in) of windblown sand
sandstone.[50] There is a certain critical size (about 0.5 mm) below which
from the Gobi Desert
further temperature-induced weathering of rocks does not occur and this
provides a minimum size for sand grains.[51]

As the mountains are eroded, more and more sand is created. At high wind speeds, sand grains are picked
up off the surface and blown along, a process known as saltation. The whirling airborne grains act as a
sand blasting mechanism which grinds away solid objects in its path as the kinetic energy of the wind is
transferred to the ground.[52] The sand eventually ends up deposited in level areas known as sand-fields
or sand-seas, or piled up in dunes.[53]

Features
Many people think of deserts as consisting of extensive areas of
billowing sand dunes because that is the way they are often
depicted on TV and in films,[54] but deserts do not always look
like this.[55] Across the world, around 20% of desert is sand,
varying from only 2% in North America to 30% in Australia and
over 45% in Central Asia.[20] Where sand does occur, it is usually
in large quantities in the form of sand sheets or extensive areas of Aerial view of Makhtesh Ramon, an
dunes.[20] erosion cirque of a type unique to the
Negev
A sand sheet is a near-level, firm expanse of partially consolidated
particles in a layer that varies from a few centimeters to a few
meters thick. The structure of the sheet consists of thin horizontal layers of coarse silt and very fine to
medium grain sand, separated by layers of coarse sand and pea-gravel which are a single grain thick.
These larger particles anchor the other particles in place and may also be packed together on the surface
so as to form a miniature desert pavement.[56] Small ripples form on the sand sheet when the wind
exceeds 24 km/h (15 mph). They form perpendicular to the wind direction and gradually move across the
surface as the wind continues to blow. The distance between their crests corresponds to the average
length of jumps made by particles during saltation. The ripples are ephemeral and a change in wind
direction causes them to reorganise.[57]

Sand dunes are accumulations of windblown sand piled up in mounds or ridges. They form downwind of
copious sources of dry, loose sand and occur when topographic and climatic conditions cause airborne
particles to settle. As the wind blows, saltation and creep take place on the windward side of the dune and
individual grains of sand move uphill. When they reach the crest, they cascade down the far side. The
upwind slope typically has a gradient of 10° to 20° while the lee slope is around 32°, the angle at which
loose dry sand will slip. As this wind-induced movement of sand grains takes place, the dune moves
slowly across the surface of the ground.[58] Dunes are sometimes solitary, but they are more often
grouped together in dune fields. When these are extensive, they are known as sand seas or ergs.[59]
 The shape of the dune depends on the characteristics of the
prevailing wind. Barchan dunes are produced by strong winds
blowing across a level surface and are crescent-shaped with the
concave side away from the wind. When there are two directions
from which winds regularly blow, a series of long, linear dunes
known as seif dunes may form. These also occur parallel to a
strong wind that blows in one general direction. Transverse dunes
run at a right angle to the prevailing wind direction. Star dunes
are formed by variable winds, and have several ridges and slip
faces radiating from a central point. They tend to grow vertically;
Diagram showing barchan dune they can reach a height of 500 m (1,600 ft), making them the
formation, with the wind blowing from the tallest type of dune. Rounded mounds of sand without a slip face
left are the rare dome dunes, found on the upwind edges of sand
seas.[59]

In deserts where large amounts of limestone mountains surround

a closed basin, such as at White Sands National Park in south-
central New Mexico, occasional storm runoff transports dissolved
limestone and gypsum into a low-lying pan within the basin
where the water evaporates, depositing the gypsum and forming
crystals known as selenite. The crystals left behind by this process
are eroded by the wind and deposited as vast white dune fields Gypsum dune fields, White Sands
National Park, New Mexico, United
that resemble snow-covered landscapes. These types of dune are
States
rare, and only form in closed arid basins that retain the highly
soluble gypsum that would otherwise be washed into the sea.[60]

A large part of the surface area of the world's deserts consists of

flat, stone-covered plains dominated by wind erosion. In "eolian
deflation", the wind continually removes fine-grained material,
which becomes wind-blown sand. This exposes coarser-grained
material, mainly pebbles with some larger stones or
cobbles,[53][20] leaving a desert pavement, an area of land overlaid
by closely packed smooth stones forming a tessellated mosaic.
Different theories exist as to how exactly the pavement is formed.
It may be that after the sand and dust is blown away by the wind
the stones jiggle themselves into place; alternatively, stones
Windswept desert pavement of small,
previously below ground may in some way work themselves to the smooth, closely packed stones in the
surface. Very little further erosion takes place after the formation Mojave Desert
of a pavement, and the ground becomes stable. Evaporation
brings moisture to the surface by capillary action and calcium
salts may be precipitated, binding particles together to form a desert conglomerate.[61] In time, bacteria
that live on the surface of the stones accumulate a film of minerals and clay particles, forming a shiny
brown coating known as desert varnish.[62]

Other non-sandy deserts consist of exposed outcrops of bedrock, dry soils or aridisols, and a variety of
landforms affected by flowing water, such as alluvial fans, sinks or playas, temporary or permanent lakes,
and oases.[20] A hamada is a type of desert landscape consisting of a high rocky plateau where the sand
has been removed by aeolian processes. Other landforms include plains largely covered by gravels and
angular boulders, from which the finer particles have been stripped by the wind. These are called "reg" in
the western Sahara, "serir" in the eastern Sahara, "gibber plains" in Australia and "saï" in central Asia.[63]
The Tassili Plateau in Algeria is a jumble of eroded sandstone outcrops, canyons, blocks, pinnacles,
fissures, slabs and ravines. In some places the wind has carved holes or arches, and in others, it has
created mushroom-like pillars narrower at the base than the top.[64] On the Colorado Plateau, it is water
that has been the prevailing eroding force. Here, rivers, such as the Colorado, have cut their way over the
millennia through the high desert floor, creating canyons that are over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 meters)
deep in places, exposing strata that are over two billion years old.[65]

Dust storms and sandstorms

Sand and dust storms are natural events that occur in arid regions
where the land is not protected by a covering of vegetation. Dust
storms usually start in desert margins rather than the deserts
themselves where the finer materials have already been blown
away. As a steady wind begins to blow, fine particles lying on the
exposed ground begin to vibrate. At greater wind speeds, some
particles are lifted into the air stream. When they land, they strike
other particles which may be jerked into the air in their turn,
starting a chain reaction. Once ejected, these particles move in Dust storm about to engulf a military
one of three possible ways, depending on their size, shape and camp in Iraq, 2005
density; suspension, saltation or creep. Suspension is only
possible for particles less than 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) in diameter. In
a dust storm, these fine particles are lifted up and wafted aloft to heights of up to 6 km (3.7 mi). They
reduce visibility and can remain in the atmosphere for days on end, conveyed by the trade winds for
distances of up to 6,000 km (3,700 mi).[66] Denser clouds of dust can be formed in stronger winds,
moving across the land with a billowing leading edge. The sunlight can be obliterated and it may become
as dark as night at ground level.[67] In a study of a dust storm in China in 2001, it was estimated that 6.5
million tons of dust were involved, covering an area of 134,000,000 km2 (52,000,000 sq mi). The mean
particle size was 1.44 μm.[68] A much smaller scale, short-lived phenomenon can occur in calm conditions
when hot air near the ground rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low-pressure air above
forming a whirling column of particles, a dust devil.[69]

Sandstorms occur with much less frequency than dust storms.

They are often preceded by severe dust storms and occur when
the wind velocity increases to a point where it can lift heavier
particles. These grains of sand, up to about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) in
diameter are jerked into the air but soon fall back to earth,
ejecting other particles in the process. Their weight prevents them
from being airborne for long and most only travel a distance of a
few meters (yards). The sand streams along above the surface of
Wind-blown particles: 1. creep 2. the ground like a fluid, often rising to heights of about 30 cm
saltation 3. suspension 4. wind current (12 in).[66] In a really severe steady blow, 2 m (6 ft 7 in) is about as
high as the sand stream can rise as the largest sand grains do not
become airborne at all. They are transported by creep, being
rolled along the desert floor or performing short jumps.[67]

During a sandstorm, the wind-blown sand particles become electrically charged. Such electric fields,
which range in size up to 80 kV/m, can produce sparks and cause interference with telecommunications
equipment. They are also unpleasant for humans and can cause headaches and nausea.[67] The electric
fields are caused by the collision between airborne particles and by the impacts of saltating sand grains
landing on the ground. The mechanism is little understood but the particles usually have a negative
charge when their diameter is under 250 μm and a positive one when they are over 500 μm.[70][71]
Ecology and biogeography
Deserts and semi-deserts are home to ecosystems with low or very low biomass and primary productivity
in arid or semi-arid climates. They are mostly found in subtropical high-pressure belts and major
continental rain shadows. Primary productivity depends on low densities of small photoautotrophs that
sustain a sparse trophic network. Plant growth is limited by rainfall, temperature extremes and
desiccating winds. Deserts have strong temporal variability in the availability of resources due to the total
amount of annual rainfall and the size of individual rainfall events. Resources are often ephemeral or
episodic, and this triggers sporadic animal movements and 'pulse and reserve' or 'boom-bust' ecosystem
dynamics. Erosion and sedimentation are high due to the sparse vegetation cover and the activities of
large mammals and people. Plants and animals in deserts are mostly adapted to extreme and prolonged
water deficits, but their reproductive phenology often responds to short episodes of surplus. Competitive
interactions are weak.[72]

Flora
Plants face severe challenges in arid environments. Problems they
need to solve include how to obtain enough water, how to avoid
being eaten and how to reproduce. Photosynthesis is the key to
plant growth. It can only take place during the day as energy from
the sun is required, but during the day, many deserts become very
hot. Opening stomata to allow in the carbon dioxide necessary for
the process causes evapotranspiration, and conservation of water
is a top priority for desert vegetation. Some plants have resolved
this problem by adopting crassulacean acid metabolism, allowing
them to open their stomata during the night to allow CO2 to enter,
Xerophytes: Cardón cacti in the Baja and close them during the day,[73] or by using C4 carbon
California desert, Cataviña region,
fixation.[74]
Mexico

Many desert plants have reduced the size of their leaves or

abandoned them altogether. Cacti are present in both North and South America with a post-Gondwana
origin. The genus is desert specialist, and in most species, the leaves have been dispensed with and the
chlorophyll displaced into the trunks, the cellular structure of which has been modified to allow them to
store water. When rain falls, the water is rapidly absorbed by the shallow roots and retained to allow them
to survive until the next downpour, which may be months or years away.[75] The giant saguaro cacti of the
Sonoran Desert form "forests", providing shade for other plants and nesting places for desert birds.
Saguaro grows slowly but may live for up to two hundred years. The surface of the trunk is folded like a
concertina, allowing it to expand, and a large specimen can hold eight tons of water after a good
downpour.[75]

Other xerophytic plants have developed similar strategies by a process known as convergent evolution.[76]
They limit water loss by reducing the size and number of stomata, by having waxy coatings and hairy or
tiny leaves. Some are deciduous, shedding their leaves in the driest season, and others curl their leaves up
to reduce transpiration. Others, such as aloes, store water in succulent leaves or stems or in fleshy tubers.

Desert plants maximize water uptake by having shallow roots that spread widely, or by developing long
taproots that reach down to deep rock strata for ground water.[77] The saltbush in Australia has succulent
leaves and secretes salt crystals, enabling it to live in saline areas.[77][78] In common with cacti, many have
developed spines to ward off browsing animals.[75]
Some desert plants produce seed which lies dormant in the soil
until sparked into growth by rainfall. With annuals, such plants
grow with great rapidity and may flower and set seed within
weeks, aiming to complete their development before the last
vestige of water dries up. For perennial plants, reproduction is
more likely to be successful if the seed germinates in a shaded
position, but not so close to the parent plant as to be in
competition with it. Some seed will not germinate until it has
been blown about on the desert floor to scarify the seed coat. The
The camel thorn tree (Acacia erioloba) in
seed of the mesquite tree, which grows in deserts in the Americas, the Namib Desert is nearly leafless in dry
is hard and fails to sprout even when planted carefully. When it periods.
has passed through the gut of a pronghorn it germinates readily,
and the little pile of moist dung provides an excellent start to life
well away from the parent tree.[75] The stems and leaves of some plants lower the surface velocity of sand-
carrying winds and protect the ground from erosion. Even small fungi and microscopic plant organisms
found on the soil surface (so-called cryptobiotic soil) can be a vital link in preventing erosion and
providing support for other living organisms. Cold deserts often have high concentrations of salt in the
soil. Grasses and low shrubs are the dominant vegetation here and the ground may be covered with
lichens. Most shrubs have spiny leaves and shed them in the coldest part of the year.[79]

Fauna
Animals adapted to live in deserts are called xerocoles. There is no
evidence that body temperature of mammals and birds is adaptive
to the different climates, either of great heat or cold. In fact, with
a very few exceptions, their basal metabolic rate is determined by
body size, irrespective of the climate in which they live.[80] Many
desert animals (and plants) show especially clear evolutionary
adaptations for water conservation or heat tolerance and so are
often studied in comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and
evolutionary physiology. One well-studied example is the
specializations of mammalian kidneys shown by desert-inhabiting
species.[81] Many examples of convergent evolution have been
identified in desert organisms, including between cacti and
Euphorbia, kangaroo rats and jerboas, Phrynosoma and Moloch
lizards.[82]

Deserts present a very challenging environment for animals. Not

only do they require food and water but they also need to keep
their body temperature at a tolerable level. In many ways, birds
are the ablest to do this of the higher animals. They can move to The cream-colored courser is a well-
areas of greater food availability as the desert blooms after local camouflaged desert resident with its
rainfall and can fly to faraway waterholes. In hot deserts, gliding dusty coloration, countershading, and
birds can remove themselves from the over-heated desert floor by disruptive head markings.
using thermals to soar in the cooler air at great heights. In order
to conserve energy, other desert birds run rather than fly. The
cream-colored courser flits gracefully across the ground on its long legs, stopping periodically to snatch
up insects. Like other desert birds, it is well-camouflaged by its coloring and can merge into the landscape
when stationary. The sandgrouse is an expert at this and nests on the open desert floor dozens of
kilometers (miles) away from the waterhole it needs to visit daily. Some small diurnal birds are found in
very restricted localities where their plumage matches the color of the underlying surface. The desert lark
takes frequent dust baths which ensures that it matches its environment.[83]
Water and carbon dioxide are metabolic end products of oxidation of fats, proteins, and
carbohydrates.[84] Oxidising a gram of carbohydrate produces 0.60 grams of water; a gram of protein
produces 0.41 grams of water; and a gram of fat produces 1.07 grams of water,[85] making it possible for
xerocoles to live with little or no access to drinking water.[86] The kangaroo rat for example makes use of
this water of metabolism and conserves water both by having a low basal metabolic rate and by remaining
underground during the heat of the day,[87] reducing loss of water through its skin and respiratory system
when at rest.[86][88] Herbivorous mammals obtain moisture from the plants they eat. Species such as the
addax antelope,[89] dik-dik, Grant's gazelle and oryx are so efficient at doing this that they apparently
never need to drink.[90] The camel is a superb example of a mammal adapted to desert life. It minimizes
its water loss by producing concentrated urine and dry dung, and is able to lose 40% of its body weight
through water loss without dying of dehydration.[91] Carnivores can obtain much of their water needs
from the body fluids of their prey.[92] Many other hot desert animals are nocturnal, seeking out shade
during the day or dwelling underground in burrows. At depths of more than 50 cm (20 in), these remain
at between 30 and 32 °C (86 and 90 °F) regardless of the external temperature.[92] Jerboas, desert rats,
kangaroo rats and other small rodents emerge from their burrows at night and so do the foxes, coyotes,
jackals and snakes that prey on them. Kangaroos keep cool by increasing their respiration rate, panting,
sweating and moistening the skin of their forelegs with saliva.[93] Mammals living in cold deserts have
developed greater insulation through warmer body fur and insulating layers of fat beneath the skin. The
arctic weasel has a metabolic rate that is two or three times as high as would be expected for an animal of
its size. Birds have avoided the problem of losing heat through their feet by not attempting to maintain
them at the same temperature as the rest of their bodies, a form of adaptive insulation.[80] The emperor
penguin has dense plumage, a downy under layer, an air insulation layer next to the skin and various
thermoregulatory strategies to maintain its body temperature in one of the harshest environments on
Earth.[94]

Being ectotherms, reptiles are unable to live in cold

deserts but are well-suited to hot ones. In the heat of
the day in the Sahara, the temperature can rise to
50 °C (122 °F). Reptiles cannot survive at this
temperature and lizards will be prostrated by heat at
45 °C (113 °F). They have few adaptations to desert life
and are unable to cool themselves by sweating so they
shelter during the heat of the day. In the first part of
the night, as the ground radiates the heat absorbed
during the day, they emerge and search for prey.
The desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) is well-
Lizards and snakes are the most numerous in arid
adapted to desert life.
regions and certain snakes have developed a novel
method of locomotion that enables them to move
sidewards and navigate high sand-dunes. These include the horned viper of Africa and the sidewinder of
North America, evolutionarily distinct but with similar behavioural patterns because of convergent
evolution. Many desert reptiles are ambush predators and often bury themselves in the sand, waiting for
prey to come within range.[95]

Amphibians might seem unlikely desert-dwellers, because of their need to keep their skins moist and their
dependence on water for reproductive purposes. In fact, the few species that are found in this habitat have
made some remarkable adaptations. Most of them are fossorial, spending the hot dry months aestivating
in deep burrows. While there they shed their skins a number of times and retain the remnants around
them as a waterproof cocoon to retain moisture. In the Sonoran Desert, Couch's spadefoot toad spends
most of the year dormant in its burrow. Heavy rain is the trigger for emergence and the first male to find a
suitable pool calls to attract others. Eggs are laid and the tadpoles grow rapidly as they must reach
metamorphosis before the water evaporates. As the desert dries out, the adult toads rebury themselves.
The juveniles stay on the surface for a while, feeding and growing, but soon dig themselves burrows. Few
make it to adulthood.[96] The water holding frog in Australia has a similar life cycle and may aestivate for
as long as five years if no rain falls.[97] The Desert rain frog of Namibia is nocturnal and survives because
of the damp sea fogs that roll in from the Atlantic.[98]

Invertebrates, particularly arthropods, have

successfully made their homes in the desert. Flies,
beetles, ants, termites, locusts, millipedes, scorpions
and spiders[99] have hard cuticles which are
impervious to water and many of them lay their eggs
underground and their young develop away from the
temperature extremes at the surface.[100] The Saharan
Tadpole shrimp survive dry periods as eggs, which
silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) uses a heat shock rapidly hatch and develop after rain.
protein in a novel way and forages in the open during
brief forays in the heat of the day.[101] The long-legged
darkling beetle in Namibia stands on its front legs and raises its carapace to catch the morning mist as
condensate, funnelling the water into its mouth.[102] Some arthropods make use of the ephemeral pools
that form after rain and complete their life cycle in a matter of days. The desert shrimp does this,
appearing "miraculously" in new-formed puddles as the dormant eggs hatch. Others, such as brine
shrimps, fairy shrimps and tadpole shrimps, are cryptobiotic and can lose up to 92% of their bodyweight,
rehydrating as soon as it rains and their temporary pools reappear.[103]

Human relations
Humans have long made use of deserts as places to live,[104] and more recently have started to exploit
them for minerals[105] and energy capture.[106] Deserts play a significant role in human culture with an
extensive literature.[107] Deserts can only support a limited population of both humans and animals.[108]

History
People have been living in deserts for millennia. Many,
such as the Bushmen in the Kalahari, the Aborigines in
Australia and various tribes of North American Indians,
were originally hunter-gatherers. They developed skills in
the manufacture and use of weapons, animal tracking,
finding water, foraging for edible plants and using the
things they found in their natural environment to supply
their everyday needs. Their self-sufficient skills and
knowledge were passed down through the generations by
word of mouth.[104] Other cultures developed a nomadic
way of life as herders of sheep, goats, cattle, camels, yaks, A camel shepherd near Marrakech.

llamas or reindeer. They travelled over large areas with

their herds, moving to new pastures as seasonal and erratic
rainfall encouraged new plant growth. They took with them their tents made of cloth or skins draped over
poles and their diet included milk, blood and sometimes meat.[109]

The desert nomads were also traders. The Sahara is a very large expanse of land stretching from the
Atlantic rim to Egypt. Trade routes were developed linking the Sahel in the south with the fertile
Mediterranean region to the north and large numbers of camels were used to carry valuable goods across
the desert interior. The Tuareg were traders and the transported goods traditionally included slaves, ivory
and gold going northwards and salt going southwards. Berbers with knowledge of the region were
employed to guide the caravans between the various oases and wells.[110] Several million slaves may have
 been taken northwards across the Sahara between the
8th and 18th centuries.[111] Traditional means of
overland transport declined with the advent of motor
vehicles, shipping and air freight, but caravans still
travel along routes between Agadez and Bilma and
between Timbuktu and Taoudenni carrying salt from
the interior to desert-edge communities.[112]

Round the rims of deserts, where more precipitation

Salt caravan travelling between Agadez and the Bilma
salt mines occurred and conditions were more suitable, some
groups took to cultivating crops. This may have
happened when drought caused the death of herd
animals, forcing herdsmen to turn to cultivation. With few inputs, they were at the mercy of the weather
and may have lived at bare subsistence level. The land they cultivated reduced the area available to
nomadic herders, causing disputes over land. The semi-arid fringes of the desert have fragile soils which
are at risk of erosion when exposed, as happened in the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The grasses
that held the soil in place were ploughed under, and a series of dry years caused crop failures, while
enormous dust storms blew the topsoil away. Half a million Americans were forced to leave their land in
this catastrophe.[113]

Similar damage is being done today to the semi-arid areas that rim deserts and about twelve million
hectares of land are being turned to desert each year.[114] Desertification is caused by such factors as
drought, climatic shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation. Vegetation plays a major
role in determining the composition of the soil. In many environments, the rate of erosion and run off
increases dramatically with reduced vegetation cover.[115]

Natural resource extraction

Deserts contain substantial mineral resources, sometimes over
their entire surface, giving them their characteristic colors. For
example, the red of many sand deserts comes from laterite
minerals.[116] Geological processes in a desert climate can
concentrate minerals into valuable deposits. Leaching by ground
water can extract ore minerals and redeposit them, according to
the water table, in concentrated form.[105] Similarly, evaporation
tends to concentrate minerals in desert lakes, creating dry lake
beds or playas rich in minerals. Evaporation can concentrate
minerals as a variety of evaporite deposits, including gypsum, A mining plant near Jodhpur, India
sodium nitrate, sodium chloride and borates.[105] Evaporites are
found in the US's Great Basin Desert, historically exploited by the
"20-mule teams" pulling carts of borax from Death Valley to the nearest railway.[105] A desert especially
rich in mineral salts is the Atacama Desert, Chile, where sodium nitrate has been mined for explosives
and fertilizer since around 1850.[105] Other desert minerals are copper from Chile, Peru, and Iran, and
iron and uranium in Australia. Many other metals, salts and commercially valuable types of rock such as
pumice are extracted from deserts around the world.[105]

Oil and gas form on the bottom of shallow seas when micro-organisms decompose under anoxic
conditions and later become covered with sediment. Many deserts were at one time the sites of shallow
seas and others have had underlying hydrocarbon deposits transported to them by the movement of
tectonic plates.[117] Some major oilfields such as Ghawar are found under the sands of Saudi Arabia.[105]
Geologists believe that other oil deposits were formed by aeolian processes in ancient deserts as may be
the case with some of the major American oil fields.[105]
Farming
Traditional desert farming systems have long been established in
North Africa, irrigation being the key to success in an area where
water stress is a limiting factor to growth. Techniques that can be
used include drip irrigation, the use of organic residues or animal
manures as fertilisers and other traditional agricultural
management practices. Once fertility has been built up, further
crop production preserves the soil from destruction by wind and
other forms of erosion.[118] It has been found that plant growth-
promoting bacteria play a role in increasing the resistance of
Mosaic of fields in Imperial Valley plants to stress conditions and these rhizobacterial suspensions
could be inoculated into the soil in the vicinity of the plants. A
study of these microbes found that desert farming hampers
desertification by establishing islands of fertility allowing farmers to achieve increased yields despite the
adverse environmental conditions.[118] A field trial in the Sonoran Desert which exposed the roots of
different species of tree to rhizobacteria and the nitrogen fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense with
the aim of restoring degraded lands was only partially successful.[118]

The Judean Desert was farmed in the 7th century BC during the Iron Age to supply food for desert
forts.[119] Native Americans in the south western United States became agriculturalists around 600 AD
when seeds and technologies became available from Mexico. They used terracing techniques and grew
gardens beside seeps, in moist areas at the foot of dunes, near streams providing flood irrigation and in
areas irrigated by extensive specially built canals. The Hohokam tribe constructed over 500 miles
(800 km) of large canals and maintained them for centuries, an impressive feat of engineering. They grew
maize, beans, squash and peppers.[120]

A modern example of desert farming is the Imperial Valley in California, which has high temperatures
and average rainfall of just 3 in (76 mm) per year.[121] The economy is heavily based on agriculture and
the land is irrigated through a network of canals and pipelines sourced entirely from the Colorado River
via the All-American Canal. The soil is deep and fertile, being part of the river's flood plains, and what
would otherwise have been desert has been transformed into one of the most productive farming regions
in California. Other water from the river is piped to urban communities but all this has been at the
expense of the river, which below the extraction sites no longer has any above-ground flow during most of
the year. Another problem of growing crops in this way is the build-up of salinity in the soil caused by the
evaporation of river water.[122] The greening of the desert remains an aspiration and was at one time
viewed as a future means for increasing food production for the world's growing population. This prospect
has proved false as it disregarded the environmental damage caused elsewhere by the diversion of water
for desert project irrigation.[123]

Solar energy capture

Deserts are increasingly seen as sources for solar energy, partly due to low amounts of cloud cover. Many
solar power plants have been built in the Mojave Desert such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems and
Ivanpah Solar Power Facility.[124] Large swaths of this desert are covered in mirrors.[125]

The potential for generating solar energy from the Sahara Desert is huge, the highest found on the globe.
Professor David Faiman of Ben-Gurion University has stated that the technology now exists to supply all
of the world's electricity needs from 10% of the Sahara Desert.[126] Desertec Industrial Initiative was a
consortium seeking $560 billion to invest in North African solar and wind installations over the next forty
years to supply electricity to Europe via cable lines running under the Mediterranean Sea. European
interest in the Sahara Desert stems from its two aspects: the almost continual daytime sunshine and
plenty of unused land. The Sahara receives more sunshine per
acre than any part of Europe. The Sahara Desert also has the
empty space totalling hundreds of square miles required to house
fields of mirrors for solar plants.[127]

The Negev Desert, Israel, and the surrounding area, including the
Arava Valley, receive plenty of sunshine and are generally not
arable. This has resulted in the construction of many solar
plants.[106] David Faiman has proposed that "giant" solar plants
in the Negev could supply all of Israel's needs for electricity.[126] Desertec proposed using the Saharan
and Arabian deserts to produce solar
energy to power Europe and the Middle
Warfare East.
The Arabs were probably the first organized force to conduct
successful battles in the desert. By knowing back routes and the
locations of oases and by utilizing camels, Muslim Arab forces
were able to successfully overcome both Roman and Persian
forces in the period 600 to 700 AD during the expansion of the
Islamic caliphate.[128]

Many centuries later, both world wars saw fighting in the desert.
In the First World War, the Ottoman Turks were engaged with the
British regular army in a campaign that spanned the Arabian
Peninsula. The Turks were defeated by the British, who had the
backing of irregular Arab forces that were seeking to revolt
against the Turks in the Hejaz, made famous in T.E. Lawrence's
book Seven Pillars of Wisdom.[129][130]
War in the desert: Battle of El Alamein,
In the Second World War, the Western Desert Campaign began in 1942
Italian Libya. Warfare in the desert offered great scope for
tacticians to use the large open spaces without the distractions of
casualties among civilian populations. Tanks and armoured vehicles were able to travel large distances
unimpeded and land mines were laid in large numbers. However, the size and harshness of the terrain
meant that all supplies needed to be brought in from great distances. The victors in a battle would
advance and their supply chain would necessarily become longer, while the defeated army could retreat,
regroup and resupply. For these reasons, the front line moved back and forth through hundreds of
kilometers as each side lost and regained momentum.[131] Its most easterly point was at El Alamein in
Egypt, where the Allies decisively defeated the Axis forces in 1942.[132]

In culture
The desert is generally thought of as a barren and empty
landscape. It has been portrayed by writers, film-makers,
philosophers, artists and critics as a place of extremes, a
metaphor for anything from death, war or religion to the primitive
past or the desolate future.[133]

There is an extensive literature on the subject of deserts.[107] An

early historical account is that of Marco Polo (c. 1254–1324), who
Marco Polo arriving in a desert land with travelled through Central Asia to China, crossing a number of
camels. 14th-century miniature from Il deserts in his twenty four year trek.[134] Some accounts give vivid
milione.
descriptions of desert conditions, though often accounts of
journeys across deserts are interwoven with reflection, as is the
case in Charles Montagu Doughty's major work, Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888).[135] Antoine de Saint-
Exupéry described both his flying and the desert in Wind, Sand and Stars,[136] and Gertrude Bell
travelled extensively in the Arabian desert in the early part of the 20th century, becoming an expert on the
subject, writing books and advising the British government on dealing with the Arabs.[137] Another
woman explorer was Freya Stark, who travelled alone in the Middle East, visiting Turkey, Arabia, Yemen,
Syria, Persia and Afghanistan, writing over twenty books on her experiences.[138] The German naturalist
Uwe George spent several years living in deserts, recording his experiences and research in his 1976 book,
In the Deserts of this Earth.[139]

The American poet Robert Frost expressed his bleak thoughts in his poem, Desert Places (1933), which
ends with the stanza "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces / Between stars – on stars where no
human race is. / I have it in me so much nearer home / To scare myself with my own desert places."[140]

Saints associated with the desert include Anthony the Great, also known as "Anthony of the Desert". Pope
Benedict XVI linked the metaphorical existence of "internal deserts" with physical and social deserts in
his homily inaugurating his papacy: "The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal
deserts have become so vast".[141]

Deserts on other planets

Mars is the only other planet in the Solar System besides Earth on
which deserts have been identified.[142] Despite its low surface
atmospheric pressure (only 1/100 of that of Earth), the patterns of
atmospheric circulation on Mars have formed a sea of
circumpolar sand more than 5 million km2 (1.9 million sq mi) in
the area, larger than most deserts on Earth. The Martian deserts
consist of half-moon dunes in flat areas near the permanent polar
ice caps in the north. The smaller dune fields occupy the bottom
of many of the craters situated in the Martian polar regions.[143]
Examination of the surface of rocks by laser beamed from the View of the Martian desert seen by the
Mars Exploration Rover have shown a surface film that resembles robotic rover Spirit in 2004
the desert varnish found on Earth although it might just be
surface dust.[144] The surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn, also has
a desert-like surface with dune seas.[145]

See also

Geography portal

World portal

Aridification List of deserts

Arid Lands Information Network List of deserts by area
Desert greening List of North American deserts
Desertification Sediment precipitation
Deserts of Australia Semi-arid climate
International Center for Agricultural Research in
the Dry Areas
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Bibliography
George, Uwe (1978). In the Deserts of this Earth (https://archive.org/details/indesertsofthise00geor).
Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-89777-5.
Pye, Kenneth; Tsoar, Haim (2009). Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=k1vv3wU28QMC). Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-85910-9.

Further reading
Bagnold, Ralph A. (1941). "The physics of blown sand and desert dunes". Nature. 148 (3756): 480–
481. Bibcode:1941Natur.148..480H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1941Natur.148..480H).
doi:10.1038/148480a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F148480a0). S2CID 38251361 (https://api.semantic
scholar.org/CorpusID:38251361).
Macmahon, James (1988). Deserts (https://archive.org/details/deserts00macm). National Audubon
Society nature guides. Random House / Chanticleer Press. ISBN 978-0-394-73139-1.

External links
"Global Deserts Outlook" (http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060616224837/http://www.unep.org/geo/gdo
utlook/). United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 2006. Archived from the original (http://ww
w.unep.org/geo/gdoutlook/) on 2006-06-16., a report in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) series.
Global Deserts Outlook in PDF (http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060616224837/http://www.unep.or
g/geo/news_centre/) at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived June 16, 2006)
Map with biodiversity scenarios for desert areas, from the Global Deserts Outlook (http://old.grida.
no/graphicslib/detail/relative-biodiversity-scenarios-for-deserts-2000-2050_ed3c) Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20180714193223/http://old.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/relative-biodiversity-sc
enarios-for-deserts-2000-2050_ed3c) 2018-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.

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