Tutunaru

Cătălin-Florin
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A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and living
conditions are hostile for human,plant and animal life .

The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the
processes of denudation.
About one third of the land surface of the world is arid or semi-arid.This
includes much of the polar regions where little precipitation occurs and which
are sometimes called “cold deserts”.
Deserts can be classified by:
-The amount of precipitation that falls
-The temperature that prevails
-The causes of desertification
-Their geographical location
Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature
between day and night put strains on the rocks which consequently break in
pieces.
Plants 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.
Animals need to keep cool and find enough food and water to survive.
People have struggled to live in deserts and the surrounding semi-arid lands for
millennia.
The top 10 largest deserts in the world are:
-Antarctic Desert (Antarctica)
-Arctic Desert (Arctic)
-Sahara Desert (Africa)
-Arabian Desert (Middle East)
-Gobi Desert (Asia)
-Patagonian Desert (South America)
-Great Victoria Desert (Australia)
-Kalahari Desert (Africa)
-Great Basin Desert (North America)
-Syrian Desert (Middle East)
Atacama Desert, Chile
 The Atacama is the oldest desert on Earth and has experienced semiarid
conditions for roughly the past 150 million years, according to a paper in the
November 2018 issue of Nature. Scientists estimate that the desert's inner core
has been hyperarid for roughly 15 million years, thanks to a combination of
unique geologic and atmospheric conditions in the area. This perfectly parched
inner-desert region spans roughly 50,000 square miles (130,000 square km),
according to soil scientist Ronald Amundson of the University of California,
Berkeley.
The Atacama is tucked in the shadow of the snow-capped Andes
Mountains, which block rainfall from the east. To the west, the upwelling of
cold water from deep in the Pacific Ocean promotes atmospheric conditions that
hamper the evaporation of seawater and prevent the formation of clouds and
rain. [Photos: The Haunting Splendor of Chile's Atacama Desert]
In other deserts around the world, like the Sahara, the mercury can soar
above 130 degrees Fahrenheit (50
degrees Celsius). But temperatures
in the Atacama are comparatively
mild throughout the year.
The average temperature in the
desert is about 63 degrees F (18
degrees C).

Chihuahuan Desert, United States and Mexico

 The Chihuahuan is the largest desert in North America-stretching all the
way from the southwestern United States deep into the Central Mexican
Highlands. WWF's conservation
efforts focus on the Big Bend
region of the northern Chihuahuan
Desert, which includes important
parts of the Rio Grande/Bravo
watershed in the U.S. and Mexico. 
Because of the region's high
altitude (3,000 to 5,000 feet)
winters and nights are cool while
summer days can reach
temperatures over 100 degrees. Very little rain falls in the area, but underground
springs, small streams and the Rio Grande River provide precious water.

The magnificent landscape is threatened by an ever-increasing human

population, water misuse and mismanagement, overgrazing by cattle and goats,
and a lack of knowledge regarding the desert's ecological importance. For more
than 15 years, WWF and its bi-national partners have been working in the
northern Chihuahuan Desert to protect and bring back freshwater and grassland
ecosystems for the benefit of wildlife and people.
Antarctic Desert, Antarctica
There has never been a single
permanent human resident in
Antarctica—the coldest, driest and
windiest of continents, centred
around the South Pole. Haunted by
tales of the doomed Scott
expedition in 1912, the vast interior
of Antarctica is all but dead, having
almost no precipitation. This makes
it the world's largest desert. Perhaps incongruously, there are several active
volcanoes here, including Deception Island and Mount Erebus, as well as
mountain ranges, glaciers and subterranean lakes. Only specialised creatures
such as the albatross, snow petrel and fur seal are at home in Antarctica,
alongside tough, endearing penguins and several cetacean species.
Antarctica's desert has its own parallels to the Northern Lights: the Aurora
Australis. However, this glorious, ice-bound wonderland isn't as impenetrable to
us as it might sound. Its snow-hued wildlife, unpolluted views of the stars and
exquisitely sculptural landscapes are accessible not just to the outdoorsy via
trekking, ice diving, berg-climbing, camping and kayaking; it's also possible to
meet the penguins on foot, take a star cruise, learn about the area's natural
history or simply watch and photograph nature in the raw as you drift by.

Gobi Desert, China and Mongolia

Gobi, also called Gobi Desert, great desert and semidesert region
of Central Asia. The Gobi (from Mongolian gobi, meaning “waterless place”)
stretches across huge portions of
both Mongolia and China. Contrary
to the perhaps romantic image long
associated with what—at least to the
European mind—was a remote and
unexplored region, much of the Gobi
is not sandy desert but bare rock. It is
possible to drive over this surface by
car for long distances in any
direction: northward toward
the Altai and Hangayn mountain
ranges, eastward toward the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range, or
southward toward the Bei Mountains and Huang He (Yellow River) valley. To
the west, beyond the southwestern limit of the Gobi, lies another arid expanse—
the Tarim Basin of the southern Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang—
which encompasses the Takla Makan Desert and is enclosed by the Tien
Shan ranges to the north and the Kunlun and western Altun mountains to the
south.
The Gobi occupies a vast arc of land 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long and
300 to 600 miles (500 to 1,000 km) wide, with an estimated area of 500,000
square miles (1,300,000 square km). In the present discussion, the Gobi is
defined as lying between the Altai Mountains and Hangayn Mountains to the
north; the western edge of the Da Hinggan Range to the east; the Yin, Qilian,
eastern Altun, and Bei mountains to the south; and the eastern Tien Shan to the
west.
Syrian Desert, Middle East

Between the fertile land along

the Mediterranean Sea in the west and
the Euphrates River hundreds of miles
to the east, the lava fields of the Syrian
Desert bake under the sun. The desert
reaches from southern Syria (shown),
southward into northern Jordan and
eastward all the way to the Euphrates
River in Iraq.
The Syrian Desert hosts hardy, resourceful wildlife but is threatened by
drought, overgrazing, and conflict.
 It has suffered considerable biodiversity loss, including cheetahs, ostriches, and
wolves. 

Tabernas Desert, Spain

The spectacular lunar

landscape of Tabernas Desert is an
astounding yet unexpected sight for
visitors, especially if you consider that
Almeria is the only desert in
Europe and one of its most important
agricultural hotbeds. A visit to
Tabernas evokes a mixture of wonder and awe as you take in the wind-swept
crags of chiselled rock, but also a deep respect for the obvious hostility this
barren environment presents. Few living things are able to thrive here; this
region barely gets any precipitation, less than 250 mm3 of rain per year!  

Tabernas is a desert just those featured in popular spaghetti

westerns from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In fact, it is the desert that was
features in those films. This iconic setting became a giant film set for countless
Hollywood blockbusters
Great Basin Desert, United States
Great Basin National
Park is located in the Great Basin Desert,
one of the four deserts of the United
States. The Mohave, Chihuahan, and
Sonoran deserts are typical "hot" deserts.
The Great Basin Desert is the only "cold"
desert in the country, where most
precipitation falls in the form of snow. A desert is defined as a region that
receives less than 10 inches (25cm) of precipitation per year.
The Great Basin Desert exists because of the "rainshadow
effect" created by the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California. When
prevailing winds from the Pacific Ocean rise to go over the Sierra, the air cools
and loses most of its moisture as rain. By the time the winds cross over the
mountains and sweep down the far side, they are very dry and absorb moisture
from the surrounding area. This drying effect is responsible for creating the
Great Basin Desert.
Most plants and animals that live in desert environments have developed
special adaptations to help them cope with the aridity and heat. These
adaptations can be structural, behavioral, or
physiological.

Arabian Desert, Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Desert, great desert region of
extreme southwestern Asia that occupies
almost the entire Arabian Peninsula. It is the
largest desert area on the continent—covering an area of about 900,000 square
miles (2,300,000 square km)—and the second largest on Earth, surpassed in size
only by the Sahara, in northern Africa.
The Arabian Desert is bordered to the north by the Syrian Desert, to the
northeast and east by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, to the southeast
and south by the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and to the west by the Red
Sea. A large part of the Arabian Desert lies within the modern kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. Yemen, on the coast of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, borders the
desert to the southwest. Oman, bulging out into the Gulf of Oman, lies at the
eastern edge of the desert.