UNIVERSITATEA DIN BUCURESTI

Facultatea de Geografie
Specializarea Planificare Teritoriala

DESERTS

Autor,

Student Dumitra Teodora Alexandra

Grupa 113

2021
 Deserts

Deserts are regions with an arid and semi-arid climate, lack of rainfall
(which rarely reaches 300 mm / year), very arid temperatures, sometimes with very
large differences between night and day, and winds very strong, conditioning a
certain flora and fauna. Deserts are spread on all continents except Antarctica,
where the polar landscapes dominate and are spread over three natural areas:
temperate, subtropical and tropical.
The average annual rainfall is 200 mm; averages of 500-700 mm are
sometimes encountered, but the strong potential evaporation (in the Sahara 400
mm per year) maintains the character of aridity. Precipitations in these regions are
characterized by a large irregularity: uneven distribution on months, large
differences from year to year when they fall mainly in the form of heavy rainfall.
In the Sahara there were periods of 18 months without any rain; 10-20 years
without precipitations have been reported in the Atacama Desert.
The air temperature shows strong oscillations from day to night, registering
average amplitudes of over 25ºC in the shade and 40-50ºC in the sun. In the Sahara
during the day at the surface of the sand were recorded temperatures of 72ºC which
dropped during the night to 0ºC or even below 0ºC.
Winds do not show higher values than in other regions, but their importance
in arid regions acquires a greater value through the consequences on increasing the
degree of dryness (increased evaporation) and through their morphogenetic action
(scattering of soils and sands without a carpet protector, dune formation).
The absence of a continuous vegetation cover is another fundamental factor
of arid and semi-arid areas. There are deserts that on large areas do not have any
vegetation, it is confined only along the wetlands (it appears only after rainfalls
and lasts a few days or weeks). There are also regions where the vegetation grows
annually for up to three months.
The absence of soils is dictated by the lack of a vegetal carpet, runoff and
wind, which removes the materials resulting from the disintegration of the rocks.
Hydrographically, arid and semi-arid regions are characterized by
intermittent watercourses and the lack of an organized hydrographic network. The
only watercourses here are the wadis. They only work during violent showers,
when they have a very strong flood wave. In most cases wadi water is lost in its
own alluvium or evaporates before flowing into an inland lake.
Depending on the degree of aridity, there are three main types of deserts:
semi-arid, arid and hyper-arid.
Semi-arid deserts are characterized by an annual amount of 200-300 mm of
precipitations, which fall in the wet season in the form of violent showers, but also
in the form of slow rains of longer duration; it has no underground water reserves
and no permanent local leaks. The sporadic and discontinuous vegetation of thorny
bushes is related to the wetter season and the occasional rains, after which they
disappear.
Arid deserts have average annual rainfall below 200 mm; the rains fall
sporadically in the form of short and violent showers. There is no wetter season,
only wet days during the rains. The vegetation has completely disappeared or is
located intermittently along the wetlands. The thermal regime is very different
from one region to another, hence the need to subdivide them into two types: warm
deserts (Sahara, Kalahari, Arabia, Australia) with average annual temperatures of
15-20ºC and cold deserts (Gobi, Tibet, Greenland, Iceland, Pamir, Anzi) in which
the average annual temperatures are between -10 and + 5ºC, and the precipitations
fall mainly in the form of snow.
Hyperarid deserts are much rarer, approaching the maximum limit of aridity.
Rainfall is so rare that it takes years or decades for a few mm of rain to fall. In the
continental deserts (Death Valley) there are very high diurnal thermal contrasts,
while in the coastal deserts (Atacama) the thermal amplitudes are low. The
vegetation is ephemeral (it only lasts a few days after a rain).
Desert winds are neither more frequent nor stronger than in other climatic
zones, only their efficiency is increased due to aridity and the absence of
vegetation. The wind acts on the relief through erosion (corrosion and deflation),
transport and accumulation. Wind accumulations are agglomerations of sand or
dust, which the wind has blown away or shattered.
The dunes are asymmetrical waves and represent the most characteristic
forms of wind accumulation. They occur in conditions of abundant sand in arid and
semi-arid areas. In temperate regions the most important dunes are found in coastal
regions, where sand supply and breezes create favorable conditions for their
formation. The formation and evolution of the dunes can be best followed in the
immediate vicinity of the shores. Here, the simplest accumulations are fixed
around tufts of vegetation; they are embryonic dunes. By joining them a cordon is
formed that follows very closely the shore line, like a wave, forming the shore
dune. By the shore dune migration, as a result of the dominant winds (breezes), a
new wave of dunes is formed behind it, parallel to the first one. Thus, several rows
are formed parallel to each other and transversal to the direction of the dominant
wind. Among them remain small elongated corridors, which in Gascony were
called lette. By moving away from the supply area, the transverse dunes are less
and less supplied by sand, and begin to be fixed by vegetation and degraded by
strong winds.