2. Desert are situated between 5 and 30
degrees north and south latitudes on the
either side of the equator. Most of the
deserts are on the western margins of the
continents. In India, we have the Thar
Desert.Desert is lands with out trees.
Dessert is sandy areas. As a result of this,
life becomes very difficult for people. It is
also known as the land of hot sand.. The
important characteristic of a dessert is
scarcity of water . Life in the desert region is
difficult and people have to work hard to
make a living.
3. . They do not have a permanent home. They make pots,
pans and tools out of iron. They travel from one place
to another to sell their goods. In some parts of the
desert the soil fertile. people of Rajasthan live in flat
roof houses. They wear bright colored clothes. The men
wear dhoti. Kurta and turban.. The main festivals of
Rajasthan are desert festival, tees Gangapur, Dussehra,
Diwali, Holi and Id.A desert is sandy area with little
vegetation. Rajasthan lies south of northern plains. The
desert covers most of the state of Rajasthan in the
western part of India there is little rainfall in this
reason. The desert has an extreme climate. Jaipur is
the capital of Rajasthan.
4. Many people in the deserts are
nomads. Nomads rear cattle like goats,
cows and camels. They keep moving
from one place to another with their
animals in search of food and water
for them.
5.
6. Some of them are craftsmen and make a
living by selling their goods.
Some people grow crops like bajra, jowar,
wheat and mustard seeds. There are also
many industries (textiles, sugar, cement,
fertilizers, etc.) and mines (lead, zinc, iron-
ore, etc.) that provide people of this region
with means of livelihood. Handicrafts and
jewelers made in Rajasthan are sold in many
parts of India and the world.
7.
8. The women of Rajasthan
wear colourful ghaghra-
cholis with an odhni or
chunni. The men wear dhoti-
kurta with turbans to
protect themselves from
the harsh sun.
9.
10. The climate in the deserts is extremely hot.
The summers are very hot and dry.
Sandstorms are common in this season.
Water becomes scarce and in many places
there is severe drought. Most places receive
little or no rainfall. The winter days are
sunny and cool. At night, because the sand
cools down quickly, it becomes bitterly cold.
11.
12. • The entire continent of Antarctica receives an annual
precipitation of 6.5 inches, which makes it a polar
desert. It is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent
on earth.
• Located in the southernmost point of the earth, the
desert spans over 5,339,573 square miles, which makes
it the largest desert in the world.
• Antarctica is also the fifth-largest continent on earth.
To give you a general idea about its size, it is 1.3 times
as large as Europe.
• More than 99% of the desert is covered by an ice
sheet. The ice sheet has been there for 40 million years.
13. • The Arctic Desert is a polar desert that lies in the North
Pole, and receives an annual precipitation of less than 10
inches.
• With a surface area of 5,300,000 square miles, the Arctic
Desert is the second largest desert in the world.
• During winter, its average temperature is -40 °C. Coldest
recorded temperature is -68 °C. During the month of July, the
desert has an average temperature ranging from -10 °C to 10
°C.
• Animals that have adapted to the freezing and dry habitat
of the Arctic Desert include the polar bear, reindeer, arctic
fox, arctic wolf, caribou, arctic hare, snowy owl, and muskox.
Vegetation here, mainly comprises grasses, shrubs, mosses,
and lichens.
14. • The third largest desert in the world is the Sahara. It
occupies an area of 3,629,360 square miles. The Sahara
is also the largest hot desert in the world.
• The desert receives a yearly rainfall of less than 3
inches. It has a sub tropical climate in the north, and a
tropical climate, in the south.
• Some of the sand dunes found in this region can be as
high as 590 ft.
• The volcano Emi Koussi stands tall at 11,302 feet, as
the highest mountain in this desert.
15. • Located in Western Asia, the Arabian Desert covers an area of 899,618
square miles. To give you an idea of its mammoth size, it has in its
center, Rub' al Khali - world's largest sand desert, with an area of 250,966
square miles.
• The annual precipitation recorded here is less than 4 inches. The desert
has an extremely dry climate, with an average temperature ranging from
40 °C to 50 °C in summer, and 5 °C to 15 °C in winter. Temperatures
below the freezing point have also been recorded.
• Plants such as the calligonum crinitum, cornulaca Arabica, and cyperus
conglomeratus grow in the desert.
• The desert's wildlife comprises dromedary camels, gazelles, sand cats,
the Arabian oryx, spiny-tailed lizards, monitor lizards, and the Arabian
cobra.
16. • The Gobi Desert is in Asia, and is the fifth largest desert
of the world, spanning over 500,002 square miles.
• The Gobi Desert is a cold desert, and its name "Gobi"
means "very large and dry," in Mongolian. The desert
receives no more than 8 inches of rain annually. Some
areas of the desert have the worst precipitation
conditions; it pours only once every two to three years.
• Unlike most deserts that are choked with sand dunes, the
Gobi exhibits mostly gravel plains and rocky outcrops.
• The desert is known for its extreme climate;
temperature here ranges from -40 °C in winter to 40 °C in
summer.
17.
18.
19.
20. Creosota bush is known by many names such as
“larrea tridentate” as a plant, “gobernadora” in
Mexico, “hediondilla” in Sonora, etc. It is a
flowering plant belonging to the family of
Zygophyllaceae. It can be found in the deserts of
North America, California, Texas, Arizona and
Mexico. Creosote bush is an evergreen plant that
grows merely 1-3 meters tall. It pertain dark green
leaves with leaflets in the opposite direction and
joined at the base. These bear yellow flowers with
one-inch wide twisted petals. This bush blooms
from February till August. They shed off their old
branches and die eventually, and this occurs when
the plant reaches the age of 30-90. These bushes
are mostly found in well-drained soils of alluvial
fans and flats. Its foliage acts as a refuge for
crickets, grasshoppers and praying mantids
21. Barrel cactus are found in the southwest desert of
North America and distributed scarcely in a few
other deserts all over. These cactus looks like a
pineapple with pointed thorns surrounding them.
The thorny ribs differ in colour ranging from red
to orange depending on its maturity. The Native
Americans collected its fruits for emergency use
like in extreme drought condition. They even used
its sharp spines as fishhooks. This cactus grow over
one meter in height and are one of the dangerous
forms of cacti. If any of its thorn punctures your
flesh, it might lead to severe injury and would take
time in healing. Many people believe that barrel
cactus is filled with water which is a fallacy since it
is actually filled with slimy alkaline juice.
22. Elephant tree, commonly known as the Bursera
Microphylla, is found in the Anza-Borrego Desert
Park region of the United States. It grows mainly
on the rocky slopes of desert mountains into a
sculptural form with thick water-storing trunk.
This tree is native to Mexico, Baja California,
Sonora and Zacatecas. They are basically small
trees, very short and stout with tapering trunks
and branches that resembles the legs and trunks of
an elephant and hence got its name. They are semi-
succulent with alternate leaves and are mostly
once-pinnate or twice-pinnate. The fruit it bears is
a drupe and contains a yellow stone. Sceptics
refuse to acknowledge the existence of elephant
trees until 1937 because of its rare growth and
poor distribution.
