Desert Facts

A desert is an area of land that is marked by very sparse vegetation due to extreme climatic conditions and extremely low levels of precipitation. There are hot deserts as well as cold deserts. The Antarctic desert which spans across the continent of Antarctica is the most prominent example of a cold desert! Due to extremely low temperatures, vegetation and plant life is very sparse in these regions and the soil is ill-suited for farming and cultivation. In hot deserts, the complete lack of moisture coupled with the extremely high temperatures make normal vegetation and cultivation of food items an impossible task. Only about 20% of the Earth's deserts are covered by sand. Based upon topography and region, there are precisely four types of deserts - Mountain-Basin deserts, Plateau Deserts, Regs and Intermontane Basins. Let us read about some very interesting facts about deserts including some generic information to find out some amazing facts pertaining to three major deserts of the world - the Sahara desert, the Gobi desert and the Atacama desert.

Facts About Deserts

The following are some generic facts about deserts that apply to almost all deserts of the world. Check these out to gain a whole lot of amazing information about these arid stretches of sand!

• Approximately one-third of the surface of the earth is covered by deserts!
• About thirty countries, mostly located in the African continent, have 75 % of their geographical span in deserts!
• The annual rainfall in deserts is less than 10 inches on an average.
• Due to scarcity of water and vegetation, animal life forms are limited in deserts. Sonoran desert is the only desert to have the maximum number of animal and plant lives dwelling there! It is the habitat of around 3000 plant species and 5000 animal species including fish, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals!
• The sand that we see on desert surfaces is not all that constitutes their topography. Most deserts have rough, gravelly bases under the sandy surfaces. Sahara desert is a good example as it is 30% sand and 70% gravel!
• Harsh life conditions and extreme temperatures have evolved certain creatures to completely adapt to desert life. The kangaroo rat, for instance, can survive without having access to any source of water - it gets all the moisture it needs from its food source which consists of desert grass seeds and mesquite beans!
• The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, covering the maximum surface area among all other hot deserts! Antarctica is the world's largest cold desert!

Sahara Desert
Area:	9,400,000 km2
Continent Located In:	Africa
Countries It Covers:	Algeria, Chad, Libya, Egypt, Eritrea, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Sudan, Western Sahara and Tunisia

Check out some more interesting Sahara desert facts to know more about this second largest desert (after Antarctica) and the largest hot desert in the world!

• The Sahara desert covers the countries of Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Mali, Sudan, Niger, Mauritania, Western Sahara and Tunisia.
• Sahara desert plants include Welwitschia, Peyote Cactus, date Palm, Thyme, etc. Sahara desert animals include, among others, sand vipers, monitor lizards, ostrich, death stalker scorpion, etc.
• The Sahara started forming about 3 million years ago! The Sahara desert climate is pretty extreme with scorching hot days and chilly nights!
• Prehistoric cave paintings in some Sahara desert regions depict it as a greener, more tropical region!
• The Sahara desert is native to just about two million people, the reason of such low population being the extreme water scarcity as it receives just about 8 centimeters of rainfall each year!
• Strange as it may sound, the peaks located in the Sahara get covered by snow in the winters!
• The Sahara has a mostly rocky topography with different elevations at different places.
• Some dunes in the Sahara are so high that they reach a height of about 180 meters!

Gobi Desert
Area:	105,000 km2
Continent Located In:	Asia
Countries It Covers:	China, Inner Mongolia and 7 Mongolian Provinces (Govi-Altai, Sukhbaatar, Omnogovi, Dundgovi, Govisumber, Dornogovi and Bayankhongor)

Check out these cool (maybe it should be cold!) Gobi desert facts to keep yourself abreast on desert facts!

• Gobi desert is a cold desert! Very often, frost and snow can be seen on its dunes!
• Gobi is not a primarily sandy desert; it is rocky having salt marshes and shifting sands on the lower regions.
• Due to its location to the north of the Himalayan range, the rain bearing clouds are blocked by mountain range and the Gobi desert receives as little as only about 8 inches of rainfall every year.
• The most common Gobi desert plants are drought resistant shrubs such as saltwort, sagebrush and grass.
• There are about 33 different species of animal lives that exists in the Gobi. Most common Gobi desert animals are jerboa, golden eagle, Gobi bear, Asiatic wild ass, Asiatic ibex, wild camel, Bactrian camel, etc.
• The first dinosaur eggs and some of the first paleontological fossils were discovered in the Gobi desert regions!

Atacama Desert
Area:	1,295,000 km2
Continent Located In:	South America
Countries It Covers:	Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru

The following Atacama desert facts make for an interesting read. Check these out!

• The Atacama desert is located in the continent of South America. It is a 15 million years old cold desert!
• The Atacama desert is flanked by the Andes Mountains on one side and the Chilean Coast Range on the other.
• The Atacama desert witnesses quite a lot of human activities during the day as the pan American highway runs straight through it!
• The Atacama is the world's largest reservoir of sodium nitrate!

Those were some brief but interesting desert facts. Despite being desolate and almost devoid of life and liveliness, deserts are some of the most interesting topographies to study. More so, because with the growing global warming due to increased ozone layer depletion, deserts are perhaps what the future of Earth has in store for the entire planet.