The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

Arid and desolate are words that match the deserts of the world.

Thinking about the desert, perhaps the first image that appears in our heads is endless sand hills, but the sandstorm is dry and a sky with only the harsh sun. For many years, under the influence of nature and mainly humans, desertification rates have been increasing. There are many primitive deserts that are forests or human habitats, but now they have become a place where only the most thorny animals / plants can survive. This article is listed, introducing the 10 largest deserts and deserts in the world today.

10. Chihuahua Desert

Picture 1 of The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

The area of ​​this desert is estimated at 282,000 square kilometers (175,000 square miles). The Chihuahua Desert lies along the Mexican-American border. Its area is even larger than California state (according to the statistics of the University of New Mexico). The desert is so named because it covers much of Mexico's Chihuahua state, in addition to the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona of the United States. The average rainfall per year in this desert is less than 228mm.

Like many other deserts in the world, the Chihuahua Desert is surrounded by the Sierre Madre Occidental Mountains in the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental in the East, preventing steam from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico from reaching the mainland.

There are more than 300 caves under the desert and Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico. In this area, Carlsbad Caverns National Park was built after sulfuric acid entered the limestone mountain.

9. The Great Basin Desert

Picture 2 of The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

The area of ​​this desert amounts to 490,000 square kilometers (about 190,000 square miles). Unlike most other deserts, the distinctive feature here is that most of the rain falls here in the form of snow. This desert covered range includes most Nevada, part of Utah and a few other states. Annual average rainfall in the area is only about 150 to 300mm.

This desert is formed on the low side of the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California. The surrounding areas are also influenced by the desert. There are strong winds called Santa Ana that often blow south of California after being formed in high pressure areas in the Great Basin desert.

In the Great Basin desert area there are many strange rocks formed. For example, some types were found in central Nevada in 2009, their shape is described as "dripping like honey" . This distortion occurs due to changes in the Earth's crust that are caused by high pressure and high temperatures below the Earth's surface. Heavy materials in the lithosphere when heated will overflow through thinner coatings, dragging the material behind.

8. Syrian desert

Picture 3 of The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

The area of ​​this desert is about 518,000 square kilometers (about 200,000 square miles). It is truly a dead land when described as desolate and arid. The Syrian desert covered most of Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, where it was "marked" by lava - an insurmountable barrier to humans until recent decades. We now have highways and oil pipelines built along this area. The average annual rainfall in this area falls around 125mm.

Since ancient times, people have set foot in the Syrian desert. A few modern discoveries have confirmed that. The archaeological site called "Stonehenge of Syria" was discovered in 2009. A 2012 report by Discovery said it contained a lot of stone circles and tomb areas.

Es Safa volcano near Damascus is the largest volcano of Arabia. Lava drainage holes were active about 12,000 years ago in the Holocene Epoch. More recently, a boiling lava lake was found around the area in 1850.

7. Great Victoria Desert

Picture 4 of The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

The area of ​​this desert reaches 647,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles). What a great land. The Great Victoria Star covers most of Australia primarily in the form of parallel sand dunes and some salt lakes. The sand dunes are mainly red sand from eastern Australia, they turn white when moving south due to mixing with sand from the beach.

This area is described as a place with unpredictable changes in precipitation. Tracking data from 1890 to 2005, the average rainfall here is only about 162mm per year. Due to the harsh environment, deserts mainly consist of aboriginal lands, nature reserves or vacant land, without cities.

One of the region's biggest ecological threats comes from camels. Their ancestors were imported from India, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia in the 19th century to serve in the desert. A recent report from the BBC said an estimated 750,000 wild camels are using a large water source and destroying infrastructure. They are considered as a short-term effective medium but have long-term consequences.

6. Patagonia Desert

Picture 5 of The largest desert - desert in the world (1)

The Great Victoria deserts are already wide, but let's visit the Patagonia desert with a huge area of ​​630,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles), this desert belongs to Argentina. The desert and semi-desert areas stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes, mostly non-tree plains (Britannica encyclopedia).

Like the Death Valley in California, the Patagonia desert is located on the low-ridge side of the Andes. The harshness here is no less than the death valley. The average annual rainfall here is only from 160 to 200mm.

According to Susan Woodward, an honorary professor of geography at Radford Virginia University, the harsh environment here is mainly due to the influence of terrain. When air masses are forced to move around the mountain and deep depressions, they become hotter and the ability to hold steam also increases. On the lesser side of the mountain, the water evaporates very quickly, thus creating an arid desert environment.

(continue)