Deserts
This general category includes a selection of more specific topics.
Deserts Encyclopedia Articles
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Karakum Desert
Karakum Desert, great sandy region in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent of the area of Turkmenistan. Another, smaller desert in Kazakhstan near the Aral Sea is called the Aral Karakum. The Turkmen...
Ténéré
Ténéré, physiographic region of the Sahara extending from northeastern Niger into western Chad. Comprising the northwestern part of the Central Sudan depression, this vast level plain of sand extends over...
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park, desert and wilderness area in southern California, U.S. It is situated just east of Palm Springs and adjacent communities and about 60 miles (100 km) east of San Bernardino,...
Takla Makan Desert
Takla Makan Desert, great desert of Central Asia and one of the largest sandy deserts in the world. The Takla Makan occupies the central part of the Tarim Basin in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang,...
Sirtica
Sirtica, sandy desert region that is essentially a northward extension of the Sahara (desert), north-central Libya; it is the site of one of the world’s largest oil fields. The region fronts the Mediterranean...
Gobi
Gobi, great desert and semidesert region of Central Asia. The Gobi (from Mongolian gobi, meaning “waterless place”) stretches across huge portions of both Mongolia and China. Contrary to the perhaps romantic...
Kalahari Desert
Kalahari Desert, large basinlike plain of the interior plateau of Southern Africa. It occupies almost all of Botswana, the eastern third of Namibia, and the northernmost part of Northern Cape province...
Sahara
Sahara, (from Arabic ṣaḥrāʾ, “desert”) largest desert in the world. Filling nearly all of northern Africa, it measures approximately 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west and between 800 and 1,200 miles...
Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert, arid region covering 120,000 square miles (310,800 square km) in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, U.S., and including much of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur,...
Arabian Desert
Arabian Desert, great desert region of extreme southwestern Asia that occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula. It is the largest desert area on the continent—covering an area of about 900,000 square...
Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park, desert area containing plant and animal fossils and archaeological sites in eastern Arizona, U.S., 19 miles (30 km) east of Holbrook. It was established as a national monument...
Atacama Desert
Atacama Desert, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the...
North American Desert
North American Desert, vast, irregular belt of inhospitable terrain that stretches north to south down the western side of the North American continent from southern Oregon and Idaho to northern Mexico....
Namib
Namib, a cool coastal desert extending for 1,200 miles (1,900 km) along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Namibe (formerly Moçâmedes) in Angola southward across Namibia to the Olifants River in the Western...
Painted Desert
Painted Desert, section of the high plateau in north-central and northeast-central Arizona, U.S. The Painted Desert extends from the Grand Canyon in a southeasterly direction along the north side of the...
Negev
Negev, arid region in the southern part of Israel and occupying almost half of Palestine west of the Jordan River and about 60 percent of Israeli territory under the 1949–67 boundaries. The name is derived...
Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert, arid region of southeastern California and portions of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, U.S. It was named for the Mojave people. The Mojave Desert occupies more than 25,000 square miles (65,000...
Thar Desert
Thar Desert, arid region of rolling sand hills on the Indian subcontinent. It is located partly in Rajasthan state, northwestern India, and partly in Punjab and Sindh (Sind) provinces, eastern Pakistan....
Africa
Africa, the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth. The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean...
Simpson Desert
Simpson Desert, largely uninhabited arid region covering some 55,000 square miles (143,000 square km) in central Australia. Situated mainly in the southeastern corner of the Northern Territory, it overlaps...