The Sahara desert is the largest subtropical desert in the world, spanning 9.4 million square kilometers of North Africa. The Thar desert, located in India and Pakistan, is the 9th largest subtropical desert globally. Both deserts are characterized by extreme heat and aridity, with sand dunes and gravel plains shaped by wind. Vegetation in the Sahara and Thar has adapted to the harsh conditions through mechanisms like deep roots and water storage. Animal life in the Thar is diverse given the varied habitat, with many species like the blackbuck surviving through local protection and smaller size.

1. THAR
DESERT
SAHARA
DESERT

2. The Sahara is also known as ‘The Great
Desert’ is the largest Subtropical hot desert and
third largest desert after Antarctica and
the Arctic.
The Thar Desert also known as ‘The Great
Indian Desert’ is a large, arid region in the
northwestern part of the Indian
Subcontinent that forms a natural boundary
between India and Pakistan. It is the
world's 9th largest subtropical desert.

3. Saharaspreads over 9,400,000 square kilometres and
covers most of North Africa . . The Sahara stretches from
the Red Sea in the east, including parts of
the Mediterranean, to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. To the
south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid
tropical savanna that composes the northern region of
central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.

4. The desert landforms of the Sahara are shaped by
wind or by extremely rare rainfall and include sand dunes
and dune fields or sand seas, stone plateaus , gravel plains
, dry valleys , dry lakes and salt flats. Unusual landforms
include the Richat Structure in Mauritania.
Several deeply dissected mountains and mountain ranges,
many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr
Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti
Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The
highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, ashield volcano in
the Tibesti range of northern Chad.

5. The soil of the Thar Desert remains dry for much of the
year and is prone to wind erosion. High velocity winds
blow soil from the desert, depositing some on
neighboring fertile lands, and causing shifting sand
dunes within the desert. . Sand dunes are stabilised by
erecting micro-windbreak barriers with scrub material
and subsequent afforestation of the treated dunes with
seedlings of shrubs such as phog,senna, castor oil
plant and trees such as gum acacia, Prosopis
juliflora and lebbek tree.

6. Sand dunes
Sahara desert
THAR
DESERT

9. Occupation
The Thar Desert is one of most heavily populated
desert areas in the world and the main occupations of people
living here are agriculture and animal husbandry.
Agriculture is not a dependable proposition in this area—
after the rainy season, at least 33% of crops fail. Animal
husbandry, trees and grasses, intercropped with vegetables
or fruit trees, is the most viable model for arid, drought-
prone regions. The region faces frequent droughts.
Overgrazing due to high animal populations, wind and water
erosion, mining and other industries result in serious land
degradation.

10. FLORA And FAUNA
The Saharan flora comprises around 2800 species of vascular plants.
Approximately a quarter of these are endemic. About half of these
species are common to the flora of the Arabian deserts.
FAUNA comprises of many species like cheetah etc.
The central Sahara is estimated to include five hundred species of
plants, which is extremely low considering the huge extent of the area.
Plants such as acacia trees, palms, succulents, spiny shrubs, and
grasses have adapted to the arid conditions, by growing lower to avoid
water loss by strong winds, by storing water in their thick stems to use it
in dry periods, by having long roots that travel horizontally to reach the
maximum area of water and to find any surface moisture and by having
small thick leaves or needles to prevent water loss by evapo-
transpiration. Plant leaves may dry out totally and then recover.

11. FLORA And FAUNA
Stretches of sand in the desert are interspersed by hillocks and sandy and
gravel plains. Due to the diversified habitat and ecosystem, the vegetation,
human culture and animal life in this arid region is very rich in contrast to
the other deserts of the world. About 23 species of lizard and 25 species of
snakes are found here and several of them are endemic to the region.
Some wildlife species, which are fast vanishing in other parts of India, are
found in the desert in large numbers such as the blackbuck, chinkara
and Indian wild ass in the Rann of Kutch. They have evolved excellent
survival strategies, their size is smaller than other similar animals living in
different conditions, and they are mainly nocturnal. There are certain other
factors responsible for the survival of these animals in the desert. Due to
the lack of water in this region, transformation of the grasslands into
cropland has been very slow. The protection provided to them by a local
community, the Bishnois, is also a factor. Other mammals of the Thar
Desert include a subspecies of red fox and the caracal.

12. THAR
DESERT

13. SAHARA
DESERT

14. MAP OF SAHARA

15. MAP OF THAR

16. A NATURAL ROCK ARCH
IN SAHARA DESERT