Taklamakan (Central Asia): a desert covered with snowfall
Taklamakan
is one of the largest sandy deserts in the world, ranking 15th in size
in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts. It covers an
area of 270,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi) of the Tarim Basin, 1,000
kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide. It is
crossed at its northern and at its southern edges by two branches of
the Silk Road as travelers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.
In 2008, China's biggest desert experienced its biggest snowfall and
lowest temperature after 11 consecutive days of snow. Snow is rare in
the desert that covered 337,600 square kilometers, never before had the
whole desert been covered.
Lençóis Maranhenses (Brazil): a ‘desert' with lagoons
It
seems incredible, but in a country that keeps around 30% of the fresh
water and shelters the largest rain forest in the world, we can find a
“desert”. Located in the State of Maranhão, on the
north shore of Brazil, the Lençóis Maranhenses National
Park is an area of about 300 square kilometers (155,000 ha) of blinding
white dunes and deep blue lagoons, forming one of the most beautiful
and unique places in the world. The dunes invade the continent over
50km (31 miles) from the cost, creating a landscape that reminds a
white bed sheet, when seen from above.
But you may ask:
-Lagoons?? You told me it was a desert… Yes, what defers this
region from a desert is the amount of rain that drops over the dunes,
creating ponds of crystal clear water on the depression between dunes.
Despite its desert-like appearance, Lençóis Maranhenses
records an annual rainfall of 1,600mm (i.e. 62.9 inches), 300 times
more than in the Sahara. During the period of drought, the lagoons
evaporate and become completely dried. After the rainy season, the
lagoons are home of many species of fish, turtles and clams. The
mystery in this story lies in the fact that when the lagoons fill up,
life comes back, as if they had never left the place. One of the
hypotheses to explain the phenomenon is that the eggs of the fish and
crabs are maintained alive in the sand, exploding when rain comes back.
Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia): the world's largest salt desert
The
Salar is one of the iconic images of Bolivia, a massive salt desert in
the middle of the Altiplano. It is an expansive, virtually flat desert
that reflects the sun in such a way as to create a mirror effect with
the sky. There are several lakes in the desert with strange colours
from the mineral deposits in the region.
Some 40,000 years ago,
the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the
lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru
Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger
Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats
in the United States. It is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of
salt, from which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
Farafra (Egypt): the white desert
A
main geographic attraction of Farafra is its White Desert (known as
'Sahara el Beyda,' with the word 'sahara' meaning a desert). The White
Desert of Egypt is located 45 km (30 miles) north of Farafra. The
desert has a white, cream color (it is truly white, in clear contrast
with the yellow deserts elsewhere) and has massive chalk rock
formations that have been created as a result of occasional sandstorms
in the area.
Atacama (Chile): the flourished desert
The
Atacama Desert occupies the largest amount of the Chilean territory
located north of the 29th parallel. The area located on the coast
between Arica and Antofagasta appears in the Guinness Book of World
Records as the driest place in the world. Nevertheless, to the south of
the Tropic of Capricorn, the desert becomes kinder towards living
beings. The coastal mists, "camanchacas", are more abundant south of
Antofagasta and bring the humidity necessary for the maintenance of the
coastal scenic vegetation. Many plants survive mainly because of the
"camanchaca", and the harsh savings of water, in normal dry years, that
causes them to delay important functions such as growth, to favor
survival and reproduction. (Link)
Namib (Namibia): the only desert with elephants
South
of Africa lies the Namib desert. which is less vast than the Sahara but
just as impressive. It forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park
with neighbouring Angola. The Sossusvlei sand dunes are the highest in
the world, some towering at 300m high and if you are lucky enough, you
can stumble across desert elephants-the Namib is the only desert in the
world to have elephants. Apparently the oldest desert in the world,
myriad species of plants and animals can only be found here. The Namib
has fascinated geologists for years but it remains very little
understood to this day. Off the coast, strong southerly winds with fogs
and strong currents cause sailors to lose their way; the north coast
has been named 'Skeleton Coast' due to the amount of shipwrecks found
there, some of which can be found as much as 50m inland, as the desert
slowly takes over the ocean as it moves westwards.
Simpson Desert (Australia): the red sand desert
Australia
is home to four large deserts, popularized by Mad Max: Sturt's Stoney
Desert, Tanami Desert, the Great Victoria Desert and the Simpson
Desert, which is also known as 'The Big Red' due to the presence of
dunes of red sand. The Simpson Desert is an erg which contains the
world's longest parallel sand dunes. These north-south oriented dunes
are static, held in position by vegetation. They vary in height from 3
metres in the west to around 30 metres on the eastern side. The most
famous dune, Nappanerica, or, more popularly, Big Red (named by Simpson
Desert traveller Dennis Bartell), is 40 metres in height.
The Black Desert (Egypt): the desert with black stones
Located
100km northeast of the White desert, the Black Desert is a region of
volcano-shaped mountains with large quantities of small black stones.
The stones lie out across the orange-brown ground, so that it is not
quite as black as many people may hope for. Especially after visiting
the White Desert, which has formations that are really white, many will
imagine a desert as dramatic as this. Climbing one of the many soft
peeks, the view from the top is really nice, with similar peeks
continuing on into the haze. The Black Desert is uninhabited. (Link)
Antarctica: world's driest and wettest desert
Antarctica is a land of extremes. It's not inhabited year round by humans because it's simply too freezing cold. In 1983 scientists recorded extreme cold temperatures as low as -129 Fahrenheit. It's also the wettest place on Earth, but simultaneously the driest. The reason it's the “wettest” is not because of rainfall; since Antarctica is covered by 98% ice, it's technically very wet. However since it's also the aforementioned coldest place in the world, it gets very little precipitation – less than 2 inches a year. Which makes Antarctica a desert. A brutally cold ice desert with a massive trench full of even more…ice. Three for the price of one!
Sahara (North Africa): world's largest desert
The
Sahara, with a size of 8.6 million km², is the world's largest
desert, covering large parts of North Africa. Around 4 million people
live there. Its maximum length is 4,800 km, running from west to east,
and up to 1,200 km from north to south. Sahara covers most of
Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger
and Mali, and touches Morocco and Tunisia.
Sahara is very dry but there is an annual rainfall in most regions, although just a few dozen millimetres.
