1. Geography
Deserts

3. Typical Characteristics
Aridity:
How measured?
10 inches vs 55.6 inches
How much is usable? Why?
i. Flash floods
ii. Evaporation

5. II. Temperature:
Distance from Equator
Daytime vs Nighttime
i. Highest: 136F
Role of Clouds

6. III. Landforms:
Sand
Less stereotypical - mountains, plateaus, plains, gravel, bedrock;
Ravines, gullies, canyons - formed how?
Role of wind?

7. IV. Life:
Not barren
What allows plants/animals
to survive?
i. Saguaro cactus
ii. Reptiles vs mammals

9. C. Nocturnal
D. Oasis

10. Why Go There? Resources Minerals and metals Oil Religion Weather
Mystery and Beauty

11. Changing Size . . . Shrinking Irrigation Growing Desertification
Overtaxing semi-arid areas
20% of world

12. Deserts of the World NA: Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan
SA: Patagonian
Africa: Sahara, Lybian, Namib, and Kalahari
Asia: Arabian, Rub al Khali, Gobi, and Takla Makan
Australia: Great Sandy, Gibson, Great Victoria, and Simpson

14. Africa
Sahara
Camel caravans
i. Sagging hump
Salt mines

15. C. Terrain
i. rocky mountains, salt flats, gravel plains, sand seas
ii miles across
iii miles long
iv. covers 3.5 million square miles

16. D. Precipitation
i. Average of less than 4 inches a year, with some areas receiving no rain at all
ii. oasis
iii. Nile along eastern edge

17. II. Kalahari
Lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, hyenas, etc.
water holes
Referred to as a “thirstland” rather than a desert, at times, due to the wider assortment of life found there

18. D. Terrain
i. Basin
ii. About as big as Texas

19. E. Precipitation
i inches of rain a year
ii. No predictable pattern
iii. Water holes

20. III. San People
Also known as the
Bushman
Found and stored water in ostrich eggs in order to survive droughts

21. Australia Aborigines Natives of Australia
Recorded to have lived there for at least 40,000 years

22. C. Aboriginal life and traditions
i. Creation and “dreamtime”
ii. “Songlines”
iii. Nomadic hunters/gatherers
iv. “Walkabouts”

23. II. Outback
⅔ of Australia is arid to semi-arid
Makes up the interior of the continent
Billabongs - water supplies and salt flats
Marsupials
i. Kangaroo and conserving energy

25. Asia Gobi Surrounded almost entirely by mountains Terrain
i. Mostly rock and gravel terrain
ii. Salty soil - scrub brush and grasses with few oases

26. C. Precipitation
i. One of driest deserts
ii. Less than four to eight inches rainfall a year
iii. Most rivers dry up before reaching interior of desert

27. D. -40F low to over 100F high
i. Extremes - dryness and temperature - forbidding

28. II. Arabian Peninsula
Between Red Sea and Persian Gulf
Connects Africa and Asia
Saudi Arabia and oil beneath surface
i. More than ⅓ of gas and oil lines in world are here

29. D. Terrain
i. Partially covered in rock and gravel
ii. Mainly covered in sand - largest sand desert in world - dunes 800 feet high and 30 miles long

30. E. Rub’ al Khali
i. “Empty Quarter” in Arabic
ii. Inhabited by Bedouin tribes, who call it “the Sand” - ar-Ramlah

31. F. Precipitation
i. No permanent river
ii. Importance of date palm
tree

32. North America Mojave Hottest, driest, lowest desert in US
Mainly in southeastern California and southern Nevada

33. C. Terrain
i. A basin rising into
mountains to east and west
ii. Shrubbery, salt flats, and Joshua trees

34. D. Death Valley
i. Formed along 2 fault lines
ii. Lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level
iii miles long and 6-14 miles wide at different points

35. iv. Driest place in US, receiving less than 2 inches of rain each year
v. Once was a site for
borax mining, now
a national park

36. II. Devil’s Highway
Sonoran Desert in Arizona
200 miles long
Only one dependable water source
Covered in black lava rock

37. III. Chihuahuan
Mostly on a plateau in Mexico, but stretches into Texas and New Mexico
Most notable features are the white sand dunes at White Sands National Monument in NM
i. Used as a testing site for bombs/missiles

38. C. Precipitation
i. Varies due to elevation
ii. Takes form mainly of brief, violent thunderstorms

39. South America Patagonia Located in southern Argentina Terrain
i. Vast plateau - tableland - or semi-arid steppe filled with short grasses and shrubs
ii. Between Atlantic and the Andes

40. iii. Rio Colorado to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south
iv. Almost entire coastline is comprised of cliffs as high as 150 feet
v. Surface of basalt
vi. Southern hemisphere means inverted seasons compared to what we know

42. C. Precipitation
i. Four to eight inches of rain per year
ii. Most moisture evaporated rapidly by dry winds
iii. Rivers narrow and dry up quickly as they flow out of the Andes toward the ocean

43. D. Origin of name
i. Spanish patagones means “big feet,” as the recorder of Magellan’s stop reportedly saw huge footprints in the snow
ii. Tehuelche Indians

44. E. Native wildlife
i. Guanaco, similar to a small, humpless camel or a llama
ii. Rhea, similar to a smaller ostrich or emu
iii. What the Welsh immigrants called “pen-gywns”

46. F. Today
i. Sparsely populated
ii. Sheep ranches, farms, orchards
iii. Oil wells
iv. Iron and copper mines