THAL DESERT

The Thal desert Urdu, Punjabi:  is situated in Punjab, Pakistan. It is vast area mainly between the Jhelum and Sindh rivers near the Pothohar Plateau. Its total length from north to south is 190 miles, and its maximum breadth is 70 miles 110 km while minimum breadth is 20 miles. This region is divided into the districts of Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali, Jhang, Layyah, and Muzaffargarh. Its part in Jhang is on the left bank of the river Jhelum. Geographically, it resembles the deserts of Cholistan and Thar. Main towns of Thal are Murshid Abad Shareef, Roda Thal, Mankera, Hyderabad Thal, Dullewala, Mehmood Shaheed, Shah Wala, Shahi Shumali, Piplan, Kundian, Chowk Azam, Sarai Muhajir, Jiasal, Rangpur, Adhi Kot, Jandanaala, Mari Shah Sakhira, Noorpur Thal, Kapahi, Goharwala,Mahni.The history of the Thal Canal Project goes back to over 130 years. It was in 1873 that the project was first conceived for the whole of Thal Doab. The proposal to irrigate this area was repeatedly brought up for discussion in 1919, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1936 and in 1949. It was however repeatedly shelved because of the argument that it would severely hurt the water availability to the lower riparians. The project proposal once again came under discussion in 1975 when the Executive Committee of National Economic Council ECNECrefused to endorse the project. Finally, on August 16, 2001, General Rtd Pervez Musharraf, as President of Pakistan, inaugurated the 30-billion rupee Greater Thal Canal GTC project.The local language of the Thal Desert is the Saraiki also known as Thalochi dialect of Saraiki Language. The people here live mainly in houses constructed of mud.The area remains lacking in basic facilities such as electricity. The people of Thal are hospitable, and are generally religious. Grams are produced in this desert and sent all across Pakistan. People go to shrines and Peers to ask for prayers.In some areas people started installing Tube well to water their crops.Main tribes of people living in this desert region include the Ghullo,Wahla Jutt, Rajpoot, Panwaar, Saigra, Khokhar, Cheenna, Sandhila jutt, Naich Jutt, Aheer, Bhachar, Johiya, Mammak, Chhina,Kulachi Baloch, Baloch, Tiwana, Sial, Baghoor, Awans, Rahdari, Uttra Jutt, Bhullar, Lashari, Kanyal, Jhammat, Gahi Malik, mehr, Waghra Aulakh, Majoka, Magsi and Pushia. Before the partition of India in 1947 there was a large Sikh and Hindu Population. Karlu Jutt.

TAKLAMAKAN DESERT

The Taklamakan Desert, also known as Taklimakan and Teklimakan, is a desert in southwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwest China. It is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan ancient Mount Imeon to the west and north, and the Gobi Desert to the east.

The name may be an Uyghur borrowing of the Arabic tark, "to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon" + makan, "place". Another plausible explanation suggests it is derived from Turki taqlar makan, describing "the place of ruins".The Taklamakan Desert has an area of 337,000 km2 130,116 sq. mi., and includes the Tarim Basin, which is 1,000 kilometres 620 mi long and 400 kilometres 250 mi wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road as travelers sought to avoid the arid wasteland. It is the world's second largest shifting sand desert with about 85% made up of shifting sand dunes ranking 18th in size in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts.

Some geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the Taklamakan Desert as separate and independent from the Gobi Desert region to its east.citation needed

In recent years, the People's Republic of China has constructed a cross-desert highway that links the cities of Hotan on the southern edge and Luntai on the northern edge. In recent years, the desert has expanded in someBecause it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas,Taklamakan is a paradigmatic cold desert climate. Given its relative proximity with the cold to frigid air masses in Siberia, extreme lows are recorded in wintertime, sometimes well below −20 °C −4 °F. During the 2008 Chinese winter storms episode, the Taklamakan was reported to be covered for the first time in its entirety with a thin layer of snow reaching 4 centimetres 1.6 in, with a temperature of −26.1 °C −15 °F in some observatories.

Its extreme inland position, virtually in the very heartland of Asia and thousands of kilometres from any open body of water, accounts for the cold character of its nights even during summertime.There is very little water in the desert and it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations—to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the Southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the East is China, and even to the North can be found ancient towns like Almaty.

The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar, Marin, Niya, Yarkand, and Khotan Hetian to the south, Kuqa and Turpan in the north, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the east.[6] Now many, such as Marin and Gaochang, are ruined cities in sparsely inhabited areas in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

DASHT-E KAVIR DESERT

 Dasht-e Kavir lit. 'Desert of salt-marsh', also known as Kavir-e Namak lit. 'salt-marsh of salt' and the Great Salt Desert is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau. It is about 800 km 500 mi and 320 km 200 mi with a total surface area of about 77,600 km2 30,000 sq mi, making it the Earth's 23rd largest desert. The area of this desert stretches from the Alborz mountain range in the north-west to the Dasht-e Loot in the south-east and is partitioned between the Iranian provinces of Khorasan, Semnan, Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd.

Dasht means 'desert' in Persian. It is named after the salt marshes "kavirs" located there. Namak means 'salt'.Central in the desert lies the Kavir Buzurg Great Kavir, which is about 320 km long and 160 km 99 mi wide. In the west lies the Darya-ye Namak "lake of salt", of 1,800 km2 690 sq mi. It contains some large salt plates in a mosaic-like shape. It is part of a 4,000 km2 1,500 sq mi protected ecological zone, the Kavir National Park. One of the most desolate places of Dasht-e Kavir is the Rig-e Jenn dunes.The Dasht-e Kavir's climate is almost rainless and the area is very arid. Temperatures can reach 50 °C 122 °F in summer, and the average temperature in January is 22 °C 72 °F. Day and night temperatures during a year can differ up to 70 °C 158 °F. Rain usually falls in winter.

The desert soil is covered with sand and pebbles; there are marshes, lakes and wadis. The hot temperatures cause extreme vaporization, which leaves the marshes and mud grounds with large crusts of salt. Heavy storms frequently occur and they can cause sand hills reaching up to 40 m in height. Some parts of Dasht- e Kavir have a more steppe-like appearance.Vegetation in the Dasht-e Kavir is adapted to the hot and arid climate as well as to the saline soil in which it is rooted. Common plant species like shrubs and grasses can only be found in some valleys and on mountain tops. The most widespread plant is mugwort.

The Persian ground jay is a bird species living in some parts of the desert plateaus, along with Houbara bustards, larks and sandgrouses.

Persian gazelles live in parts of steppe and desert areas of the central plateau. Wild sheep Ovis orientalis, camels, goats Capra aegagrus and leopards are common in mountainous areas. Night life brings on wild cats, wolves, foxes, and other carnivores. In some parts of the desert, the Persian onager gur in Persian and sometimes even the Asiatic Cheetah can be seen. Lizards and snakes live in different places in the central plateau.The extreme heat and many storms in Dasht-e Kavir cause extensive erosion, which makes it almost impossible to cultivate the lands. The desert is almost uninhabited and knows little exploitation. Camel and sheep breeding and agriculture are the sources of living to the few people living on its soil. Human settling is restricted to some oases, where wind-blocking housing constructions are raised to deal with the harsh weather conditions. For irrigation, Iranians developed a sophisticated system of water-wells known as qanats. These are still in use, and modern globally used water-revenue systems are based on their techniques.

CHOLISTAN DESERT

The Cholistan Desert also locally known as Rohi sprawls thirty kilometers from Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan and covers an area of 26,300 square kilometres 10,200 sq mi. It adjoins the Thar Desert, extending over to Sindh and into India.

The word Cholistan is derived from the Turkic word chol, which means "desert". Cholistan thus means Land of the Desert. The people of Cholistan lead a semi-nomadic life, moving from one place to another in search of water and fodder for their animals. The dry bed of the Hakra River runs through the area, along which many settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization have been found.

The desert also has an annual Jeep rally, known as Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally. It is the biggest motor sports event in Pakistan.The language of Cholistan also reflects a number of features for its historical and geographical background.Saraiki is the native language of Cholistan. Cholistan is a pretty diffused society as many people in search of rain travel larger distances and many travel to central parts of Punjab for work when there is shortage of water. So due to the diffused nature of these people language in Cholistan is a mixture of many Dialects of the Punjab. Many communities do speak their peculiar local dialects but general Punjabi language is easily understood and can be spoken owing to the migration trends in search for work in these regions.In a harsh and barren land where rainfall is very sparse and unreliable, Cholistanis rely mainly on their livestock of sheep, goats, and camel. However in cold nights of winter they huddle indoor and engage themselves in various arts and crafts such as textiles, weaving, leatherwork, and pottery.As mentioned above, the Indus Valley has always been occupied by the wandering nomadic tribes, who are fond of isolated areas, as such areas allow them to lead life free of foreign intrusion, enabling them to establish their own individual and unique cultures. Cholistan till the era of Mughal rule had also been isolated from outside influence. During the rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar, it became a proper productive unit. The entire area was ruled by a host of kings who securely guarded their frontiers. The rulers were the great patrons of art, and the various crafts underwent a simultaneous and parallel development, influencing each other. Mesons, stone carvers, artisans, artists, and designers started rebuilding the old cities and new sites, and with that flourished new courts, paintings, weaving, and pottery. The fields of architecture, sculpture, terra cotta, and pottery developed greatly in this phase.The backbone of Cholistan economy is cattle breeding. It has the major importance for satisfying the area's major needs for cottage industry as well as milk meat and fat. Because of the nomadic way of life the main wealth of the people are their cattle that are bred for sale, milked or shorn for their wool. Moreover, isolated as they were, they had to depend upon themselves for all their needs like food, clothing, and all the items of daily use. So all their crafts initially stemmed from necessity but later on they started exporting their goods to the other places as well. The estimated number of livestock in the desert areas is 1.6 million.Cholistan produces very superior type of carpet wool as compared to that produced in other parts of Pakistan. From this wool they knit beautiful carpets, rugs and other woolen items. This includes blankets, which is also a local necessity for the desert is not just a land of dust and heat, but winter nights here are very cold, usually below freezing points. Khes and pattu are also manufactured with wool or cotton. Khes is a form of blanket with a field of black white and pattu has a white ground base. Cholistanis now sell the wool for it brings maximum profit.

KALAHARI DESERT

The Kalahari Desert in Afrikaans Kalahari-woestyn is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in southern Africa extending 900,000 square kilometres 350,000 sq mi, covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. A semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains, the Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert, such as the Namib Desert to the west. There are small amounts of rainfall and the summer temperature is very high. The driest areas usually receive 110–200 millimetres 4.3–7.9 in of rain per year and the wettest just a little over 500 millimetres (20 in). The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2,500,000 square kilometres (970,000 sq mi) extending farther into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Kalahari is home to many migratory birds and animals. Previously havens for wild animals from elephants to giraffes, and for predators such as lions and cheetahs, the riverbeds are now mostly grazing spots, though leopards and cheetahs can still be found. The area is now heavily grazed and cattle fences restrict the movement of wildlife. Among deserts of the southern hemisphere the Kalahari most closely resembles some Australian deserts in its latitude and its mode of formation.

Description;

Derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning "the great thirst", or Khalagari, Kgalagadi or Kalagare, meaning "a waterless place", the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. Drainage is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia. The only permanent river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the northwest, forming marshes that are rich in wildlife. Ancient dry riverbeds—called omuramba—traverse the Central Northern reaches of the Kalahari and provide standing pools of water during the rainy season.

WAHIBA SANDS DESERT

The Wahiba Sands, or Ramlat al-Wahiba also called Sharqiya Sands is a region of desert in Oman. The region is named for the Wahiba tribe. The area is defined by a boundary of 180 kilometers 110 north to south and 80 kilometers 50 mi east to west with an area of 12,500 square kilometers 4,800 sq mi. The desert has been of scientific interest since a 1986 expedition by the Royal Geographical Society documented the diversity of the terrain, the flora and fauna, noting 16,000 invertebrates as well as 200 species of other wildlife, including avifauna. The desert was formed during the Quaternary period as a result of the forces of south-west blowing monsoon and the northern shamal trade wind, coming in from the east.Based on the types of dunes found in the area, it is divided into the high, or upper, Wahiba and low Wahiba. The upper area contains mega-ridge sand systems on a north-south line that are believed to have been formed by monsoon. The dunes of the north, formed at some point after the last regional glaciation, measure up to 100 meters 330 ft high with peaks accumulating in the areas just beyond the strongest wind speeds, where declining velocity wind deposited sand. The north and west boundaries of the desert are delineated by the fluvial systems Wadi Batha and Wadi Andam. Beneath the surface sands are older layers of cemented carbonate sand. Alluvium deposits believed to have originated from the Wadi Batha during the Paleolithic era have been disclosed in the central desert 200 meters 660 ft beneath the interdune surface. Wind erosion is believed to have contributed to the existence of a nearly level plain in the southwest. The area is occupied by Bedouins who congregate at Al Huyawah, an oasis near the border of the desert, between June and September to gather dates. Tribes present in the area at the time of the Royal Geographical Society expedition included, predominately, the al-Wahiba or Yal Wahiba for whom the region is named, the al-Amr, the al-Bu-Isa, the Hikman, Hishm and Janaba.They also documented 150 species of native flora.Alsharhan, A. S.; IGCP Project 349 1998. Quaternary Deserts and Climatic Change: Proceedings of the International Conference on Quaternary Deserts and Climatic Change : Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 9–11 December 1995. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 90-5410-597-6.

Cooke, Ronald U.; Andrew Warren, Andrew Goudie 1993. Desert Geomorphology. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-85728-017-2.

Darke, Diana; Sandra Shields 2006. Oman: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 214–217. ISBN 1-84162-168-4.

GOBI DESERT

The Gobi Mongolian: Говь, Govi, "semidesert"; Chinese: ; pinyin: Gēbì  is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is most notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road.

The Gobi is made up of several distinct ecological and geographic regions based on variations in climate and topography. One is the Eastern Gobi desert steppe ecoregion, a Palearctic ecoregion in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, home to the Bactrian camel and various other animals. It is a rain shadow desert formed by the Himalaya range blocking rain-carrying clouds from the Indian Ocean from reaching the Gobi territory.

The Gobi measures over 1,600 km 1,000 mi from southwest to northeast and 800 km 500 mi from north to south. The desert is widest in the west, along the line joining the Lake Bosten and the Lop Nor 87°-89° east. It occupies an arc of land 1,295,000 km2 500,000 sq mi in area as of 2007; it is the fifth-largest desert in the world and Asia's largest. Much of the Gobi is not sandy but has exposed bare rock.

The Gobi has several different Chinese names, including, a generic term for deserts  and, In its broadest definition, the Gobi includes the long stretch of desert and semi-desert area extending from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° east, to the Greater Khingan Mountains, 116°-118° east, on the border of Manchuria; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan, and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun, Altyn-Tagh, and Qilian mountain ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau, on the south. citation needed

Gobi desert near Dunhuang

A relatively large area on the east side of the Greater Khingan range, between the upper waters of the Songhua Sungari and the upper waters of the Liao-ho, is reckoned to belong to the Gobi by conventional usage. Some geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi region as defined above: the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami Kumul, as forming a separate and independent desert, called the Taklamakan Desert.

Archeologists and paleontologists have done excavations in the Nemegt Basin in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, which is noted for its fossil treasures, including early mammals, dinosaur eggs, and prehistoric stone implements, some 100,000 years old. Citation needed.

Climate;

The Gobi is a cold desert, with frost and occasionally snow occurring on its dunes. Besides being quite far north, it is also located on a plateau roughly 910–1,520 metres 2,990–4,990 ft above sea level, which contributes to its low temperatures. An average of approximately 194 millimetres 7.6 in of rain falls annually in the Gobi. Additional moisture reaches parts of the Gobi in winter as snow is blown by the wind from the Siberian Steppes. These winds cause the Gobi to reach extremes of temperature ranging from –40°C  –40°F in winter to +50°C 122°F in summer

The climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, combined with rapid changes of temperature of as much as 35 °C 63 °F. These can occur not only seasonally but within 24 hours.

THAR DESERT

The Thar Desert Rajasthan: थार मरुधर, Hindi: थार मरुस्थल, Sindhi: ٿر ريگستان, Urdu: صحراےَ تھر also known as the Great Indian Desert is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and forms a natural boundary running along the border between India and Pakistan. With an area of more than 259,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi), within the Indian state of Rajasthan, covering the districts of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner and Jodhpur, and some region of the states of Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. It is the world's 9th largest subtropical desert.

Location and description;

Thar Desert extends from the Sutlej River, surrounded by the Aravalli Ranges on the east, on the south by the salt marsh known as the Great Rann of Kutch parts of which are sometimes included in the Thar, and on the west by the Indus River. Its boundary to the large thorny steppe to the north is ill-defined. It lies mostly in the Indian state of Rajasthan, and extends into the southern portion of Haryana and Punjab states and into northern Gujarat state.

Physiography and geology;

The Thar Desert slopes imperceptibly towards the Indus Plain and surface unevenness is mainly due to sand dunes. The dunes in the south are higher, rising sometimes to 152 m whereas in the north they are lower and rise to 16 m above the ground level.

The Aravalli forms the main landmark to the south-east of Thar Desert.

Desert soil - The soils of the Arid Zone are generally sandy to sandy-loam in texture. The consistency and depth vary according to the topographical features. The low-lying loams are heavier and may have a hard pan. Some of these soils contain a high percentage of soluble salts in the lower horizons, turning water in the wells poisonous.

Origin;

The origin of the Thar Desert is a controversial subject. Some consider it to be 4000 to 10,000 years old, whereas others state that aridity started in this region much earlier. Another theory states that area turned to desert relatively recently: perhaps around 2000 - 1500 BC. Around this time the Ghaggar-Hakra ceased to be a major river. It now terminates in the desert but at one time was a water source for the Indus Valley Civilization centre of Mohenjo-daro. It has been observed through remote sensing techniques that Late Quaternary climatic changes and neotectonics have played a significant role in modifying the drainage courses in this part and a large number of palaeochannels exist.

Most studies did not share the opinion that the palaeochannels of the Sarasvati River coincide with the bed of the present-day Ghaggar and believe that the Sutlej along with the Yamuna once flowed into the present riverbed. It has been postulated that the Sutlej was the main tributary of the Ghaggar and that subsequently the tectonic movements might have forced the Sutlej westwards, the Yamuna eastwards and thus dried up the Ghaggar-Hakra.

Studies on Kalibangan in the desert region by Robert Raikes indicate that it was abandoned because the river dried up. Prof. B. B. Lal retd. Director General of Archaeological Survey of India) supports this view by asserting: "Radiocarbon dating indicates that the Mature Harappan settlement at Kalibangan had to be abandoned around 2000-1900 BCE. And, as the hydrological evidence indicates, this abandonment took place on account of the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra. This latter part is duly established by the work of Raikes, an Italian hydrologist, and of his Indian collaborators".

LOP DESERT

The Lop Desert, or the Lop Depression, is a desert extending from Korla eastwards along the foot of the Kuruk-tagh meaning Dry Mountain to the formerly terminal Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. It is an almost perfectly horizontal expanse. Lake Bosten in the northwest lies at an altitude of 1,030 m to 1,040 m 3,380 to 3,410 ft, while the Lop Nur in the southeast is only 250 m lower.

Geography;

The Lop Desert is on the whole flat, but with three slightly more depressed areas which might form lakes if filled with water - the Lop Nor dried basin, Kara-Koshun dried basin and the Taitema Lake basin. These formed, at one time or another, the terminal lakes of the Tarim-Konque-Qarqan river system. The Tarim River changes its course through time, and therefore the location of the terminal lake also changes, causing some confusion amongst the early explorers as to the exact location of Lop Nor, and the lake was thus referred to as the "Wandering Lake."

In the past Lop Nur was a huge marsh in the eastern part of Xinjiang. Now the region is a broad, unbroken expanses of clay intermingled with sand. The clay, mostly of a yellow or yellow-grey color, is hard and thickly sprinkled with fine gravel. There are benches, flattened ridges and tabular masses of consolidated clay yardangs that are in a distinctly defined laminae, three stories being sometimes superimposed one upon the other, while their vertical faces are abraded, and often undercut, by the wind. The formations themselves are separated by parallel gullies or wind furrows, 6 to 20 feet deep, all sculptured in the direction of the prevailing northeast to southwest wind. There is no drifting sand or sand dunes, except in the south towards the outlying foothills of the Altyn-Tagh.

Climate;

The climate of Lop Desert is extremely arid, a study in 1984 gives a mean annual precipitation of generally less than 20 mm, and in another study in 2008 it was recorded as 31.2 mm. In the depression centre below 800 m in elevation, aridity can be expected to be much more extreme. Relative humidity of the atmosphere frequently dropped to zero, with air temperature as high as 50°C. Annual evaporation was estimated in 1984 to be between 1,000 and 1,500 mm in 1984, meaning that a lake with about 2 m in water depth will dry out within less than two years if cut off entirely from its feeding source. In 2008 the annual evaporation was reported as 2,901 mm.

GREAT SANDY DESERT

The Great Sandy Desert, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the North West of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of 284,993 square kilometres 110,036 sq mi. The Gibson Desert lies to the south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.

Population;

The region is sparsely populated. The main populations consist of Indigenous Australian communities and mining centers. The aboriginal people of the desert fall into two main groups: the Martu in the west and the Pintupi in the east. Linguistically, they are speakers of multiple Western Desert Languages. Many of these indigenous people were forcibly removed from their lands during the 20th century and relocated to settlements such as Papunya in the Northern Territory. In recent years, when some of the original inhabitants have returned.[citation needed] Young Indigenous adults from the Great Sandy Desert region travel to and work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture.

Climate;

Rainfall is low throughout the coast and far north and is strongly seasonal. Areas near the Kimberley have an average rainfall that exceeds 300 mm 12 in, but is patchy. Many drought years end with a monsoon cloud mass or tropical cyclone. Like many of Australia's deserts, rainfall is high by desert standards, with the driest parts recording falls little below 250 mm 9.8 in. A massive evaporation rate makes up for the higher than normal desert rainfall. This region is one which gives rise to the heat lows which help drive the NW monsoon. Almost all rain comes from monsoon thunderstorms, or the occasional tropical cyclone rain depression. Citation needed

On average for most of the area, there are about 20–30 days where thunderstorms form. However, in the north bordering the Kimberley, 30-40 per year is the average.citation needed

Summer daytime temperatures are some of the hottest in Australia.citation needed The range on the northern border near the Kimberley at Halls Creek is around 37 to 38 °C 99 to 100 °F, but this would be indicative of the low end of the range.citation needed Regions further south average 38 to 42 °C (100 to 108 °F) except when monsoonal cloud cover is active. Several people have died in this region after their vehicles have broken down on remote tracks. Citation needed winters is short and warm; temperatures range from 25 to 30 °C 77 to 86 °F.

Frost does not occur in most of the area. The regions bordering the Gibson Desert in the far south east may record a light frost or two every year.citation needed Away from the coast winter nights can still is chilly in comparison to the warm days.

SAHARA DESERT

The Sahara Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى‎, aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā , 'the Great Desert' is the world's hottest desert, and the third largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres 3,600,000 sq mi, it covers most of North Africa, making it almost as large as China or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts to the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that composes the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.

Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres 590 ft in height.The name comes from the plural Arabic language word for desert صحارى ṣaḥārā 

Overview;

The Sahara's boundaries are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean on the north, the Red Sea on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is divided into Western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains a region of Desert Mountains and high plateaus, Ténéré desert and the Libyan Desert the most arid region. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi 3,415 metres 11,204 ft in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad.

The Sahara is the largest desert on the African continent. The southern border of the Sahara is marked by a band of semiarid savanna called the Sahel; south of the Sahel lays Southern Sudan and the Congo River Basin. Most of the Sahara consists of rocky hamada; ergs large areas covered with sand dunes form only a minor part.

People lived on the edge of the desert thousands of years ago since the last ice age. The Sahara was then a much better place than it is today. Over 30,000 petroglyphs of river animals such as crocodiles survive, with half found in the Tassili n'Ajjer in southeast Algeria. Fossils of dinosaurs, including Afrovenator, Jobaria and Ouranosaurus, have also been found here. The modern Sahara, though, is not lush in vegetation, except in the Nile Valley, at a few oases, and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the olive tree are found to grow. The region has been this way since about 1600 BCE, after shifts in the Earth's axis increased temperatures and decreased precipitation. Then, due to a climate change, the savannah changed into the sandy desert as we know it now.citation needed.

LIBYAN DESERT

The Libyan Desert, also known as the Western Desert, forms the northern and eastern part of the Sahara Desert and covers an area of approximately 1,100,000 km2.dubious – discuss The desert extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle. Like most of the Sahara, this desert is primarily sand and hamada or stony plain.

Sand plains, dunes, ridges and some depressions basins typify the endorheic region, with no rivers draining into or out of the desert. The Gilf Kebir plateau reaches an altitude of just over 1000 m, and along with the nearby massif of Jebel Uweinat is an exception to the uninterrupted territory of basement rocks covered by layers of horizontally bedded sediments, forming a massive sand plain, low plateaus and dunes.

The desert features a striking diversity of landscapes including mountains such as Jebel Uweinat 1980 m, the Gilf Kebir plateau, and sand seas see below. The Libyan Desert is barely populated apart from the modern settlements at oases of the lower Cyrenaica region in southeastern Libya. The indigenous population is Berber. In most of Upper Egypt, the desert is close to the Nile River, with a seasonal floodplain only a few kilometers wide between river and desert. Where the Desert extends into Egypt, no longer in Libya, it is generally known as the Western Desert. The term Western Desert contrasts with the Eastern Desert, to the east of the Nile, which lies between the Nile and the Red Sea.

North of the Gilf Kebir plateau, among the shallow peripheral dunes of the southern Great Sand Sea, is a field of Libyan Desert glass. A specimen of the desert glass was used in a piece of Tutankhamun's ancient jewelry. History;

History;

In 1935, the famous French aviator/airline pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crashed in the northern Libyan Desert. After miraculously surviving, he and his plane's mechanic nearly died of thirst before being rescued by a nomad. This event is described in Exupéry's book Wind, Sand and Stars.

The wreck of the B-24 bomber Lady Be Good—discovered 200 km 120 mi north of Kufra 15 years after it was reported missing during WWII—had a less happy ending. The crew bailed out believing they were over the sea, when their plane ran out of fuel, and they became lost. When they landed in the Libyan Desert they could feel a northwesterly breeze. Thinking they were near the Mediterranean, they headed into the wind hoping it would lead them to safety. However, they were more than 640 km inland from the Mediterranean, and slowly died from dehydration after covering 130 km with minimal water in a place so dry even the desert Bedouins refuse to enter.

BLUE DESERT

This article is about the desert in Sinai. For the Bradley Battersby film, see Blue Desert film.

Coordinates: 28°38′23″N 34°33′39″E

The Blue Desert is an area of the Sinai Desert near the Red Sea resort of Dahab, where a number of rocks are painted blue. The climate max is 36*c

This piece of art was created in 1980 when, following the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty Belgian artist Jean Verame visited Sinai to paint a line of peace. Verame gained the permission of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and received a grant of ten tons of paint from the United Nations.

Jean Verame later created a similar installation near the village of Tafraout in southern Morocco.

Categories: Deserts of Egypt

Blue Desert (1991) is a psychological thriller film starring Courteney Cox and D. B. Sweeney, directed by Bradley Battersby. The original music score is composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Joel Goldsmith. The filming locations were Inyokern, California and Red Rock Canyon State Park, Cantil, California.

Plot summary

A rape victim, comic book artist Lisa Roberts is given the runaround by the New York police. Tired with city life, she heads for the wide open spaces of Arizona. Not long afterward, she is propositioned by lowlife Randall Atkins. She reports this to sympathetic local policeman Steve Smith, who replies matter-of-factly that this is not the first time that Atkins has been accused of a sexual offense. To her amazement, Roberts is later visited by Atkins, who agitatedly warns her not to trust the sweet-natured policeman. Someone is lying about something, and Roberts plainly does not know what to believe. When she finds out, it is nearly too late.

NAMIB DESERT

The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa. The name Namib is of Nama origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres 1,200 mialong the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends 450 kilometres280 mi from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to 200 kilometres 120 mi inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Annual precipitation ranges from 2 millimetres 0.079 in in the most arid regions to 200 millimetres 7.9 in at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world.

The desert geology consists of sand seas near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The sand dunes, some of which are 300 metres 980 ft high and span 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, are the second largest in the world after the Badain Jaran Desert dunes in China. Temperatures along the coast are stable and generally range between 9–20 °C 48–68 °F annually, while temperatures further inland are variable—summer daytime temperatures can exceed 45 °C 113 °F while nights can be freezing. Fogs that originate offshore from the collision of the cold Benguela Current and warm air from the Hadley Cell create a fog belt that frequently envelops parts of the desert. Coastal regions can experience more than 180 days of thick fog a year. While this has proved a major hazard to ships—more than a thousand wrecks litter the Skeleton Coast—it is a vital source of moisture for desert life.

The Namib is almost completely uninhabited by humans except for several small settlements and indigenous pastoral groups, including the Ovahimba and Obatjimba Herero in the north, and the Topnaar Nama in the central region. Owing to its antiquity, the Namib may be home to more endemic species than any other desert in the world. Most of the desert wildlife is arthropods and other small animals that live on little water, although larger animals inhabit the northern regions. Near the coast, the cold ocean water is rich in fishery resources and supports populations of brown fur seals and shorebirds, which serve as prey for the Skeleton Coast's lions. Further inland, the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game park in Africa, supports populations of African Bush Elephants, Mountain Zebras, and other large mammals. Although the outer Namib is largely barren of vegetation, lichens and succulents are found in coastal areas, while grasses, shrubs, and ephemeral plants thrive near the escarpment. A few types of trees are also able to survive the extremely arid climate.

KALAHARI DESERT

The Kalahari Desert in Afrikaans Kalahari-woestyn is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in southern Africa extending 900,000 square kilometres 350,000 sq mi, covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. A semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains, the Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert, such as the Namib Desert to the west. There are small amounts of rainfall and the summer temperature is very high.

 The driest areas usually receive 110–200 millimetres 4.3–7.9 in of rain per year and the wettest just a little over 500 millimetres (20 in). The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2,500,000 square kilometres (970,000 sq mi) extending farther into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Kalahari is home to many migratory birds and animals. Previously havens for wild animals from elephants to giraffes, and for predators such as lions and cheetahs, the riverbeds are now mostly grazing spots, though leopards and cheetahs can still be found. The area is now heavily grazed and cattle fences restrict the movement of wildlife. Among deserts of the southern hemisphere the Kalahari most closely resembles some Australian deserts in its latitude and its mode of formation.

Description;

Derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning "the great thirst", or Khalagari, Kgalagadi or Kalagare, meaning "a waterless place", the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. Drainage is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia. The only permanent river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the northwest, forming marshes that are rich in wildlife. Ancient dry riverbeds—called omuramba—traverse the Central Northern reaches of the Kalahari and provide standing pools of water during the rainy season.