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Desert, types of desert, land forms, dunes and types of dunes
A desert is defined as a region that receives less than 250-500 mm of precipitation per year. Deserts form due to global circulation patterns that result in subsiding air over subtropical regions, limiting rainfall. Key factors that influence desert formation include high surface temperatures, topography such as rain shadows, and proximity to cold ocean currents. Deserts are characterized by sparse vegetation and unique landforms shaped by wind and water erosion like sand dunes, playas, and yardangs. Common desert types include hot subtropical deserts near the horse latitudes, mid-latitude deserts, and coastal deserts near cold ocean currents.
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Desert, types of desert, land forms, dunes and types of dunes
- 3. DESERT A desert isa barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. ļ A desert is a region with so little vegetation that no significant population can be supported on that land. ļ It need not be hot or even , technically dry. Ice sheets are a kind of desert. ļ ļ Deserts cover about 30% of the Earthās land
- 4. Semiarid, Arid andDeserts Semiarid lands, also called steppes, typically receives 250 to 500 millimeters (10 to 20 inches) of rain per year Arid lands receive less than 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain per year Deserts are formally defined as regions that rarely receive precipitation, typically less than 100 millimeters (4 inches) per year
- 5. STEPPE DESERT Desert which isarid. ļ A desert is a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation. ļ ļ ļ Steppe which is semiarid. The steppe is a marginal and more humid variant of the desert and is a transition zone that surrounds the dessert and separates it from bordering humid climates. WITHIN WATER DEFICIENT REGIONS TWO CLIMATIC TYPES ARE COMMONLY RECOGNIZED.
- 6. CAUSES OF NATURALDESERTS A variety of factors contribute to the formation of desert, so desert come in several different types , depending on their origins. 1. 2. High surface temperature Topography
- 7. 1. HIGH SURFACETEMPERATURE Most vegetation, under such conditions, requires abundant rainfall and or slow evaporation of what precipitation does fall. ļ The availability of precipitation is governed, in part by the Global Circulation Pattern. ļ Warm air holds more moisture than cold. ļ Global distribution of air pressure and wind is cause of formation of deserts. ļ
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- 9. Some of theair at the horse latitudes is heated and rises. When the air reaches the tropopause it is pushed in opposite directions. ļ Creating 2 more low pressure areas. ļ Air then moves from high pressure to low pressure. ļ
- 10. GLOBAL CIRCULATION PATTERN Solarradiations falls most directly on the earth near the equator and consequently, solar heating of the atmosphere and surface more intense there the sun rays are most dispersed near the poles. ļ The air over the equatorial regions would be warmer than the air over the poles. ļ Heated air rises creating low pressure at earth surface. ļ Rising air hits the tropopause move pole ward begins to cool. ļ
- 11. Warm air holdsmore moisture than cold. Similarly, when the pressure on a mass of air is increased, the air can hold more moisture. ļ Air spreading outward from the equator at high altitudes is chilled an at low pressure, since air pressure and temperature decrease with increasing altitudes. ļ Thus the air holds little moisture when that air circulates downward, at about 30 degrees north and south latitudes, it is warmed as it approaches the surface, and also subjected to increasing pressure from the deepening column of air above it. It can then hold considerably ļ
- 12. 2.TOPOGRAPHY ļ Many desert inthe middle latitudes are rains shadow deserts. As moving air meats a mountain barrier, it is forced to rise. ļ Clouds and precipitation windward side often result. Air descending the leeward side is much drier. The mountains effectively cut the leeward side off from the sources of moisture, producing a rain shadow desert. ļ The great basin desert is a rain shadow that covers nearly all of Nevada and adjacent
- 13. On the otherhand even coastal areas can have desert under special circumstances. ļ If the land is hot and adjacent ocean cooled by cold currents, the moist air coming off the ocean will be cool and carry less moisture. ļ Then air over a warmer ocean as the cooler air warms over the land and becomes capable of holding still more moisture, ļ It causes rapid evaporation from the land rather than precipitation. ļ This phenomenon is observed along portion of the western coasts of Africa and south America.
- 14. DESERTS OCCURS IN2 BROAD BELTS, AT 20-30O NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR, ALONG THE TROPICS OF CANCER AND CAPRICORN.
- 15. TYPES OF DESERT TRADEWIND DESERT An area of very little rainfall and high temperature that occurs where the trade winds or their equivalent blow over land. (linear dune) ļ The best examples are the Sahara and Kalahari deserts. The trade winds blowing from higher latitudes are very drying, and cloudiness is almost absent in these desert regions. (57 degrees) 1.
- 16. 2. Midlatitude deserts: Midlatitude deserts occur between 30Ā° and 50Ā° N. and S., pole ward of the subtropical high pressure zones.These deserts are in interior drainage basins far from oceans and have a wide range of annual temperatures. ļ The Sonoran Desert of southwestern North America is a typical midlatitude desert.(ripples, small blowouts)
- 17. 3.Rain Shadow desert:Rain shadow deserts are formed because tall mountain ranges prevent moisture-rich clouds from reaching areas on the lee, or protected side, of the range. As air rises over the mountain, water is precipitated and the air loses its moisture content. A desert is formed in the leeside "shadow" of the range.(Tian Shan of China)
- 18. 4. Coastal deserts:Coastal deserts generally are found on the western edges of continents near the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. They are affected by cold ocean currents that parallel the coast. Because local wind systems dominate the trade winds, these deserts are less stable than other deserts. Winter fogs, produced by upwelling cold currents, frequently blanket coastal deserts and block solar radiation. A coastal desert, the Atacama of South America, is the Earth's driest desert.(Crescent-shaped dunes in Namib, Africa)
- 19. 5. Monsoon desert: Monsoons develop in response to temperature variations between continents and oceans. The southeast trade winds of the Indian Ocean, for example, provide heavy summer rains in India as they move onshore. As the monsoon crosses India, it loses moisture on the eastern slopes of the Aravalli Range.The Rajasthan Desert of India and the Thar Desert of Pakistan are parts of a monsoon desert region west of the range.(small patches of sand sheets)
- 20. 6. Polar desert:Polar deserts can also be attributed to the differences in moisture holding capacities between warm and cold air. Air travelling from warmer latitudes to colder near polar ones will tend to lose moisture by precipitation ,so less remains to fall as snow near the poles, and the limited evaporation from cold high latitudes oceans contributes little additional moisture to enhance local precipitation. Thick polar ice caps, then , reflect effective preservation of what snow does fall, rather than heavy precipitation. sand dunes are not prominent, but snow dunes occur in those areas where precipitation is more abundant. (mostly bedrock or gravel plains)
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- 22. DESERT LANDFORMS ļ Plateau: Aplateau is a broad, level, elevated region commonly bounded partly by cliffs. ļ Mesa: A mesa is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides
- 23. ļ Butte: is anisolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landforms. ļ Wadi: It refers to a dry (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water only
- 24. ļ Alluvial fans: An alluvialfan is a fan or cone-shaped deposit of sediment crossed and built up by streams. ļ Playa lakes: an temporary lake where water flows into the dessert depression.
- 25. ļ Inselberg: Inselberg isan isolated hill of harder rock. ļ Bolson : A bolson is a semiarid, flatfloored desert valley or depression,
- 26. ļ Arch: is anatural rock formation where a rock arch forms, with an opening underneath. ļ Escarpment: An escarpment is a steep slope or long
- 27. ļ Oasis: is an isolatedarea of vegetation in a desert typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oasis also provide habitat for animals and even
- 28. PROCESSES AFFECTING LANDFORMSHAPES ļ weathering, erosion, and deposition are a main force behind landscape types ļ But they are not the only reason for a plain, plateau, and mountain region to form. ļ Other factors such as glaciation and tectonic activity lead to landscape building ļ the water cycle or hydrologic cycle is the driving force ļ winds also help form the surface landscape
- 29. ļErosion Erosion is theprocess by which soil and rock are removed from the Earth's surface by exogenetic processes such as wind or water flow, and then transported and deposited in other locations. ļWind erosion: consists of Abrasion & Deflation.
- 30. Wind abrasion: isthe wearing away of a solid object by the impact of particles carried by winds. It is a sort of natural sand-blasting. ļ Abrasion creates interestingly shaped stones called Vent facts and Yardangs. ļ Vent facts: are rocks that are polished and shaped by sand blasting (abrasion).
- 31. ļ Yardangs: Yardangs areusually small, wind sculpted landforms that are aligned parallel with the wind. Individual yardangs are generally small features that stands less than 5 meters high and no more than about 10 meters.
- 32. ļ Deflation : isthe wholesale removal of loose sediments, usually fine-grained sediment, by the wind. ļ The resulting surface after deflation is called Desert pavement and Blowouts. ļ Desert pavement: consists of a closely packed veneer of pebbles and cobbles that is only one or two stones thick. Beneath the pavement is material containing a significant proportion of finer particles.
- 33. ļBlowouts: a blowout ordeflation hollow is a depression excavated by the wind in easily eroded materials such as sand or silt deposits with little or no moisture or vegetation content--vegetation present in materials at the surface impedes deflation.
- 34. Desert Pavement In portionsof many deserts, the surface is a closely packed layer of coarse pebbles and cobbles too large to be moved by wind This stony veneer is called desert pavement
- 35. TRANSPORTATION OF SEDIMENTBY WIND ļ Moving air, like moving water is turbulent and able to pick up loose debris and transport it to other locations. ļ Wind erosion loads: 1. ļ Bed loads: the bed loads carried by wind consists of sand grains. The windblown sand moves by skipping and bouncing along the surface (saltation) the accumulation of this type of load forms the desert sand dunes.
- 36. ļ Suspended load: suspendedmaterials in the wind consists primarily of silt or clay size particles and if highly concentration can result in dust storms--the deposition of the suspended load can form large deposits which lack layering called loess.
- 37. Wind running water,wind Deposits As with the case for drops its load of sediment when its velocity falls and the energy available for transport diminishes So windblown silt and sand can accumulate, forming distinctive geologic features.
- 38. Loess A deposit ofwindblown dust is called loess The fine dust in loess is typically only 0.01 to 0.06 millimeter (0.0004 to 0.0024 inch) in diameter There are two primary sources for loess deposits: Deserts Glacial outwash deposits
- 39. Desert Loess inChina Homes, called yaodongs, are created by digging into the loess In the dry desert, these structures can last for many centuries
- 40. Windblown Sand Where sandis transported and later deposited by wind, the principle depositional feature is called a dune (or sand dune)
- 41. SAND DUNES FORMWHEN THERE IS 1. 2. 3. a ready supply of sand a steady wind an obstacle such as vegetation, rocks, or fences, to trap some of the sand. Dunes migrate by erosion of sand by the wind on the gentle upwind slope and deposition and sliding on the slip face.
- 42. TYPES BARCHANS DUNES: ļ crescent-shapeddunes with the points of the crescents pointing in the downwind direction, and a curved slip face on the downwind side of the dune. They form in areas where there is a hard ground surface, a moderate supply of sand, and a constant wind direction.
- 43. TRANSVERSE DUNES ļ Large fieldsof dunes that resemble sand ripples on a large scale. They consist of ridges of sand with a steep face in the downwind side, and form in areas where there is abundant supply of sand and a constant wind direction.
- 44. LINEAR DUNES ļ Long straightdunes that form in areas with a limited sand supply and converging wind directions.
- 45. STAR DUNES ļ Aredunes with several arms and variable slip face directions that form in areas where there is abundant sand and variable wind directions.
- 46. Dune Migration Continued sandaccumulation, combined with periodic slides down the slip face, result in the slow migration of the dune in the direction of the wind.
- 47. The Highest Dunes Thehighest dunes in the world are located along the southwest coast of Africa in the Namib Desert in the country of Namibia. For example, āDune 7ā is 383 meters (1245 feet) high.
- 48. DESERTIFICATION ļ Occurs as aresult of climatic changes, such as changing positions of the continents, or changes in ocean and air circulation patterns. Human impacts, such as overgrazing, draining of land, and lowering of the groundwater table, can also contribute to desertification. As vegetation dies out, the soil is more easily eroded and may be lost so that other vegetation becomes destabilized. Since soil can hold moisture, if the soil erodes, the area may become arid, and the desert expands.
- 49. THE CHANGE BETWEENDAY AND NIGHT TEMPERATURE IN DESERTS
- 50. GLOBAL IMPORTANCE OFDESERT The desert is important because it helps maintain biodiversity in our planet. If were remove deserts, it will affect our environment. Everything in our environment is linked and interconnected. ļ A lot of oil is often found under many deserts. Two thirds of the worldās crude oil is found by drilling in deserts and they hold great potential for solar and wind energy too. ļ
- 51. SOURCES: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/types/ ļ http://www.docstoc.com/docs/77146811/2---Three-Cell-GlobalCirculationppt---firstclass-Support ļ http://www.ask.com/question/why-is-the-desert-important ļhttp://library.thinkquest.org/26634/desert/formation.htm ļ Environmental Geology (fifth edition) by Carla W. Montgomery ļ Essentials of Geology (tenth edition) by Frederick K.Lutgens & Edward J.Tarbuck ļ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert ļ http://courses.missouristate.edu/emantei/creative/glg110/deser ļ
- 52. SOURCES: ļ www.kean.edu/.../Lecture%2016n%20Dry%20Cli mate. ļ www.elmhurst.edu/~richs/EC/102/Lectures/Desert s ļwww.duneguide.com/worldwide_dunes.htm ļ www.worldofteaching.com ļ users.unimi.it/ paleomag/ppt/E-Environs .Deserts.