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Junior Secondary Exploring Geography (Third Edition) 10 Taming the sand

Revision worksheets

Taming the sand

1 What and where are deserts?

 Textbook p. 3
1.1 What are deserts?

(Credit: f9photos/Envato Elements)

Deserts are ( dry / wet ) areas They are generally barren with little plant
with an annual precipitation of cover, because the very low precipitation makes it
less than 250 mm. difficult for plants to grow.

 Textbook pp. 4–5

1.2 Where are deserts?
The map below shows the distribution of major deserts in the world.

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Junior Secondary Exploring Geography (Third Edition) 10 Taming the sand
Revision worksheets

Refer to the map on p. 1 and fill in the table below.

X Y
Type of desert Tropical desert Temperate desert

Near the Tropic of Cancer and At ( higher / lower ) latitudes

Location
Tropic of Capricorn

Climatic
( Cold / Hot ) all year Winters are ( cold / hot)
characteristic
Sahara Desert/Arabian Desert/Somali
Desert/Kalahari Desert/Namib Turkestan Desert/Takla Makan
Example (name
Desert/Thar Desert/Great Australian Desert/Gobi Desert/Great Basin
TWO examples)
Desert/Mojave Desert/Atacama Desert/Patagonian Desert (any TWO)
Desert (any TWO)

 Textbook pp. 6–10

1.3 What are the characteristics of deserts?
A Climate
1 Complete the table to show the climatic characteristics of deserts.
a Scarce and unreliable rainfall
The following figure shows the rainfall i From the graph, we can see that:
graph of a place in a desert.  The annual rainfall is ( abundant /

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Junior Secondary Exploring Geography (Third Edition) 10 Taming the sand
Revision worksheets

scarce ) in deserts. In this case, it is

17.8 mm.
 There is rain ( for a few months /
throughout the year ) in deserts.
ii In addition, rainfall is ( regular / irregular )
and unpredictable in deserts. There may not
be rain for months at a time, or even for
several years. When rain comes, it falls very
heavily over a ( long / short ) time.

Average rainfall of Faya-Largeau, a place

in the Sahara Desert
b High evaporation rate

In deserts, evaporation rate is ( high / low ).

Rainwater sometimes evaporates shortly in the
air and never reaches the ground.

(Credit: twenty20photos/Envato Elements)

c Large daily range of temperature

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Junior Secondary Exploring Geography (Third Edition) 10 Taming the sand
Revision worksheets

Refer to the graph on the left.

i What is the mean daily range of
temperature (A − B) in January? Is it
large or small?
29 ºC − 7 ºC

= 22 ºC;

The mean daily range is ( small / large ).

ii
Mean daily maximum and minimum
temperatures of Faya-Largeau
Explain the reason for the mean daily
range in the answer above.
This is because clouds are rare
in deserts. In the daytime, the land heats
up ( slowly / quickly ) and at night, it
loses heat ( slowly / quickly ).

B Surface materials
2 a Desert surface is often made up of more
than one type of material. For example,
rocky, stony and sandy
surfaces are found in the Sahara Desert.
b Soil in most deserts is dry, thin, sandy, salty
and lack of organic matter
(Credit: Christopher_Boswell/Envato Elements)
 Cannot support dense vegetation
A rocky desert

C Plants and animals

3 Complete the figure below to show the characteristics of plants and animals in deserts.

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Junior Secondary Exploring Geography (Third Edition) 10 Taming the sand
Revision worksheets

Cactus can adapt well

 In deserts,
in deserts

Very dry climate Poor soil

Frequent strong winds

with sand and dust


(Credit: Chris Luczkow/Flickr)
Only a few plants and
animals can grow or live

 In places where groundwater reaches the surface of a desert, i.e. oases ,

plants can grow well.
Huacachina Oasis on the edge
of the Atacama Desert

(Credit: diegograndi/Envato Elements)

© Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022 5