01/6/2020 at 22:00 · VeraSchegoleva · 320

Top 10 largest deserts in the world - the sand giants of our planet

Thousands of kilometers of sand, scorching heat, cacti - this is roughly how we imagine the desert. However, in reality, everything is somewhat different: there can be hundreds of thousands of kilometers of sand, and instead of heat there can be cold.

Do you want to know the name of the most big desert in the world? We present to your attention a list of 10 large desert places on Earth. Some record holders will surprise you.

10. Western US Desert (North America), 492,000 km²

Large swimming pool(as this desert is called) covers most of Nevada, as well as parts of Utah, Oregon, Idaho and California. Generally, its eastern border is the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and western edge formed by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, which create a rain shadow over much of the Great Basin, preventing many Pacific storms from entering the region.

The northern and southern boundaries, depending on how they are defined, range from the Snake River Plain in the north to the Mojave Desert in the south. Surprisingly, at high altitudes there are forests that include the longest living organisms on earth - the Great Basin pines, which can live 4,900 years.

Humans have long been part of the Great Basin ecosystem. Evidence of Native American habitation has been found for a long time and dates back more than 10,000 years. These people lived in small groups, growing corn and squash, and hunting and gathering pine nuts and crickets.

European explorers and trappers traversed the Great Basin in the 1700s, but settlers did not begin arriving until the early 1800s. Mining towns boomed and faded from the 1870s to the 1930s as gold, silver and copper were sought.

9. Syrian Desert (Eurasia), 520,000 km²

A huge tract of mostly barren land covering parts of four countries: Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Few plants and animals of the Syrian desert are of a type that can withstand the subtropical climate. The nomads raise sheep and camels and move seasonally from one region to another across political boundaries in search of pasture.

IN Syrian empty phosphates, oil and butane gas were discovered, and a modern network of automobile and railways makes desert exploitation much easier than before.

8. Great Victoria Desert (Australia), 647,000 km²

Great Victoria Desert forms one of nine distinct landscapes in the management region natural resources Alinytjara-Vilurara. It is the largest desert in Australia, spanning over 700 kilometres.

This pristine desert includes red sand dunes, rocky plains and dry salt lakes. There are no lakes or other surface water, but even within this landscape there are Aboriginal communities in Oak Valley, Watarru and Walalkara who are accustomed to surviving in such conditions.

7. Patagonian Desert (South America), 673,000 km²

Once covered with dense forest, Patagonia desert has become a harsh and windy landscape covering 673,000 square kilometers in southern Argentina and Chile.

It is characterized by plains, grassy steppes and rocky foothills. Vegetation in the Patagonian desert is rare, with the exception of a few species of grasses and shrubs that have evolved to adapt to the harsh conditions.

6. Kalahari Desert (Africa), 900,000 km²

Although Namibia is better known for being the home of the Namib Desert, it should be remembered that most of eastern and southern Namibia is covered by another desert - Kalahari.

The Kalahari is an unusual desert because it rains too much, but it is actually a fossil desert. So don't expect to find tall sand dunes: the landscape is completely different.

Kalahari Desert, or Kgalagadi, as it is called in Botswana, extends over 7 countries - Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).

In Namibia it is called a "desert" mainly because its porous sandy soils cannot retain surface water, but in some areas annual rainfall can reach 250mm, providing a lush cover of grass in good years.

Because the Namibian Kalahari Desert is covered with trees, rivers and fossil streams, it thrives great amount mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, plants and insects.

5. Gobi Desert (Eurasia), 1,300,000 km²

Gobi is a large desert region in the north and south. The Gobi Desert Basins are bounded by the Altai Mountains and grasslands, and the steppes of Mongolia to the north, the Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and the North China Plain to the southwest.

The word Gobi in Mongolian means "desert". It consists of several distinct ecological and geographic regions based on changes in climate and topography.
The desert is best known as part of the great Mongol Empire, where there were several important cities along the Silk Road.

4. Desert of the Arabian Peninsula (Eurasia), 2,330,000 km²

Sprawling across the Arabian Peninsula, the imposing beauty of vast plateaus, rolling sand dunes and high mountain ranges Arabian desert, she can amaze with her mysterious charm.

The Arabian Desert is buzzing with life and activity: often ignored by tourists, this vast piece of land stretches from Yemen to Persian Gulf and from Oman to Jordan, promises its own wonderful collection wildlife and dramatic scenery that rivals the best of African safaris.

With an ecosystem uniquely adapted to extreme conditions, one can witness some of nature's most stunning creatures found only in the hidden corners of the Arabian Desert.

From rare sightings of sand cats in Oman and dueling Nubian ibex in Jordan, to the Egyptian vultures of Saudi Arabia.

3. Arctic desert (Arctic), 2,600,000 km²

It is a cold desert because it receives very little rainfall - about the same as the Sahara - but it is so cold that snow covers the ground and forms ice.

Most heavy snowfalls occur at temperatures just below freezing (-10°C or above), as warmer air can hold more water vapor. The very cold arctic air is unable to hold much moisture, so it doesn't rain or snow often, which is what this place does Arctic desert.

2. Sahara Desert (Africa), 9,100,000 km²

Sahara Desert extends over most of the territory North Africa and covers more than 9,000,000 square kilometers (about the same as the United States).

In fact, the Sahara covers about 30% of the entire African continent. It is the hottest place in the world with summer temperatures that often exceed 57 degrees Celsius.

There is between 0 and 25 millimeters of rainfall per year and it is very windy, with hurricanes blowing sand up to 1,000 meters high and constantly moving the sand dunes.

1. Antarctic Desert (Antarctica), 13,829,430 km²

The words "polar" and "desert" may seem contradictory, but that's only because most of us associate the latter with sun-drenched, sand-covered landscapes.

However, desert actually describes any deserted area of ​​land that is arid and without vegetation - and by this definition, the Sahara in Africa is even better suited for settlement than polar deserts of Antarctica.

They cover a vast area and cover an area larger than the Sahara, Arabia, Gobi and Kalahari combined, and its aptly named Dry Valleys have not seen rain in at least 2 million years.

Deserts are natural areas characterized by flat surfaces and little or no flora. They often contain quite specific fauna. Deserts can be sandy, rocky, clayey or saline. Snow (Arctic) ones are distinguished separately. There are nine types based on the nature of soil and soil, and three based on dynamic precipitation.

Sahara

What is the largest desert in the world? There are many of them on the planet. But there are not so many really large ones among them. And the largest desert in the world is the Sahara. It is located in the north - more than 8.5 million square meters. km. This is almost 1/3 of the continent. Despite the harsh conditions, approximately 2.5 million people live on its territory. But still, the population density there is the lowest on earth. The main peoples living on its territory are Berbers and Tuaregs.

Age of the Sahara Desert

Few people know that this desert is much “younger” than many people believe. It is generally accepted that the Sahara is five and a half thousand years old. Scientists have found that 6,000 years ago this desert “lived” - it had trees, gardens and a lot of lakes. But over time she changed. According to the latest research by the scientific community, the majority is inclined to believe that the Sahara “desertified” only 2.7 thousand years ago.

Territorial highlights

There are several states on the territory of the Sahara - Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Chad, Niger, Sudan and Research shows that the desert territory is unstable. It is constantly changing. Data from satellites have been obtained that the Sahara periodically increases or decreases.

Curious facts about the Sahara

In some places in this desert during the day you can fry eggs on the hot sand, and at night right there the thermometer can drop to minus ten. Therefore, in past centuries, trade caravans moved through the desert exclusively at night, and during the day they pitched tents and rested.

In addition to the usual information about the Sahara, there are many interesting facts. She also has one more feature - this is one of the few rare places on a planet where evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation: in a ratio from 2000 to 5000 mm/100 mm.

There is a huge underground lake under the Sahara, which is even larger than Lake Baikal, and the oases exist precisely because of it. There is not so much sand in the desert - only 1/5, and the rest of the territory is occupied by rocky land, and very little - sand and pebbles and simple

The desert sand cover is approximately 150 meters deep, and the largest sand dunes are similar in height to the Eiffel Tower. And if all of humanity is going to scoop up the sand of the Sahara, then each of them will have over 3 million buckets.

Strong winds constantly blow in the desert. There are only twenty calm days in the entire year. Khamsin is one of the most famous winds in the desert, translated as "fifty", which refers to how quickly it blows. Interestingly, this coincides with the Egyptian wind season, which lasts the same number of days.

Mirages

The largest desert in the world has an interesting phenomenon - mirages, which were previously considered to occur anywhere, but it turns out that they have a permanent location. And today there is even a special map on which they are plotted.

What’s also interesting is what comes with it. Full description mirage in this place - a palace, a well, a mountain range, an oasis, a palm grove. Each of them is basically permanent. Every year there are up to 160 thousand of them. Mirages can have several options - wandering, vertical, stable and horizontal.

Flora and fauna of the Sahara

The plants here are mainly subshrubs and shrubs. On the south side there are ephemeroids and ephemera. Animals move quickly, with the ability to dig sand (having hair brushes, claws, and bristles on their paws).

The largest desert on earth is famous for a place called Death Valley. It is considered the hottest and driest place on earth.

Despite the harsh living conditions, the Sahara is home to many species of flora and fauna: 545 plants, 12 amphibians, 13 fish (in oasis lakes), and more than 80 mammals and reptiles.

The largest deserts in the world: captivating and dangerous

The Sahara is not the only large desert in the world; there are others almost equal to it. There are nine more large deserts on our planet. All of them are smaller in area than the Sahara, but in relation to the others they are much larger. On every continent there is a similar representative of the area.

The largest desert in the world after the Sahara is the Arabian. Its territory is 2,330,000 square meters. m. And it captures the territories of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. This desert is mostly uninhabited due to strong winds and sandstorms, and the temperature fluctuations here are quite large. An egg can fry in sand in just 10 minutes. And at night even the stones crack due to the cold.

The Gobi Desert is located in the lands of China and Mongolia. Bert started from Altai mountains. Its territory is 166,000 sq. km. If you translate its name, it will sound like “waterless place.”

The Australian desert is the next largest desert on the planet by area (647,000 sq. km). It is here that you can find the famous red dunes, whose height reaches 40 meters.

Kalahari means “tormenting”. Its territory is 600 thousand square meters. km. But its area is constantly increasing, capturing the territories of Botswana, Angola, Zambabwe and Zambia.

Karakum means “black sands”. Its territory is 350 thousand square meters. km. The height of the ridges can reach 60 meters. This desert is located over most of Turkmenistan. Due to the shallow vegetation that predominates there, local residents adapted it as a pasture for livestock.

Taklamakan is located in Central Asia, its territory is 337,600 square meters. km. There in 2008 not only very low temperatures were observed, but even snowfall!

Many people wonder which desert is the largest among the salt deserts? To this we can answer that Salar da Uyuni is considered the greatest in the world. On its territory, salt amounts to billions of tons. And the passing rains, dissolving it, turn the desert into a huge mirror.

The Atacama is the largest desert in Chile. This is the driest place on earth. The plants, however, were able to adapt, developing their own ways of surviving in this place. During drought, they even refuse the functions of reproduction and growth.

Antarctica is the largest desert in the world made of ice. Its area is over 14 million square meters. km. And surprisingly, this particular desert is considered the driest place on the planet. There is an explanation - all the moisture is “dried up” by the cold, and precipitation here does not exceed 4 cm per year. And the year 1983 was marked by its lowest temperature - 89 degrees Celsius.

This time we will talk about the largest deserts in the world, which amaze with their length and grandeur. People have always associated the desert with something large-scale, powerful and mysterious. Many ancient civilizations were buried under sandy valleys. How many secrets man still has to learn, hidden from view in the endless latitudes!

The largest deserts in the world

Antarctica

Antarctica is the only desert on the planet that consists of layers of ice and snow. The total area of ​​Antarctica is 14,107,000 square kilometers. Despite the presence of large volumes of frozen water, Antarctica is recognized as one of the driest places on the planet. The severe frosts in this region “dry up” all possible moisture that is in the area. The amount of snowfall in Antarctica is no more than 4 centimeters per year. The lowest temperature in Antarctica was recorded relatively recently - in 1983. Then the temperature dropped to 89 degrees below zero Celsius.

Atacama

This great desert is the official territory of Chile. The title of “The driest desert on the planet” belongs to Atakema. Due to drought, each plant that is able to survive in such extreme conditions has a unique structure and has developed special mechanisms for existence. Most plants in this desert, during the driest periods, are able to stop their growth and reproduction for some time.

Salar de Uyuni

This great salt desert is located in Bolivia. According to expert research, the amount of salt in the desert is about 10 billion tons. Salt dissolved during rain turns the desert into a real giant salt “mirror”. Seeing such a spectacle with your own eyes is worth a lot. Salty water at the moment the sun's rays hit it, thanks to a different refractive index, it achieves a specular effect. A person can easily see his reflection under his feet in sunny weather.

Kalahari

Translated from Berber, the name of the desert “Kalahari” is translated as “tormenting”. This desert is majestic in its size. Its possessions start from Botswana and Nambia, and end in the territory of the Republic of South Africa. The area of ​​the entire desert is 600,000 square kilometers. Moreover, because of this natural phenomenon, like alluvium, the size of the Kalahari is constantly increasing, while selecting new areas of civilization. Among the countries affected by the expansion of the Kalahari are Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia.

Desert of Australia

Everyone knows that Australia is famous for its kangaroos, koalas and endless beaches. But few people imagine that almost half of the Australian continent is occupied by desert, seemingly consisting of many small arid areas, with a total area of ​​647,000 square kilometers. The word "desert" is associated in our minds with big amount sand, but here too the Australian deserts stand out among others. In addition to sand, in wild desert areas you can also find vast stone spaces consisting of gravel. Even the color of ordinary sand in sandy areas has an unusual red tint. The Australian desert is famous for its red dunes, which are visited by thousands of tourists every year. The height of some red dunes is more than 40 m.

Gobi

This desert is located in China and Mongolia. The seemingly endless expanses of the Gobi Desert originate from the Tien Shan and Altai mountains and end in the steppes of Mongolia, not far from the Yellow River. The total area of ​​the Gobi Desert is 1,166,000 square kilometers. The name of the Gobi Desert is translated from Mongolian as “waterless place.”

Arabian desert

This desert is the second largest in the world in terms of its extent. Her total area is 2,300,000 square kilometers. The Arabian Desert is located on the peninsula of the same name and lies in the territories of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria. Due to strong winds that cause powerful dust storms, almost the entire desert is completely uninhabited. Also in the desert there are frequent temperature fluctuations in different time days. During the day, a raw egg can easily be boiled in a few minutes if you leave it on the sand under the full sun. And at night the stones literally begin to crack from the cold.

Sahara

The Sahara is the largest desert in the world, or as it is commonly called the “Queen of Deserts”. The desert area is 9,065,000 square kilometers. Its size is only slightly smaller than the total area of ​​all the United States of America combined. The Sahara Desert is located in northern Africa and covers the territories of the following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Niger, Morocco, Sudan and Chad. The Sahara is famous for its mirages, as up to 200 thousand cases of their appearance are observed during the year. Special maps have even been developed for tourists, which indicate areas where mirages are likely to appear.

Sandy deserts cover about 20% of the land on Earth. These are huge lifeless spaces, on the territory of which an unprepared person is doomed to inevitable death. The largest desert, how the boundless abyss is capable of taking over, absorbing and destroying, but how devastatingly beautiful it is...

The largest desert on Earth

Sandy deserts are the hottest places on our planet. Basically, such natural areas are located in Africa, Australia and Eurasia. There are also places like salt desert Salar de Uyuni. Also, relatively small deserts can be found in America. Any schoolchild knows about the Sahara - it’s largest desert. In addition, it is also the hottest. The local temperature ranges from 15 to 58 degrees. The desert area is more than 9,000,000 square kilometers.

If the Sahara were in Russia, it would occupy half of the country's territory. The name of the sandy natural area mentioned above was given by the Arabs. In the Sahara today you can find about 150,000 mirages. There is even a special map with marks where you often see it – a river, a well or an oasis. The largest desert in the world extends over the territory of almost all of North Africa and occupies the area of ​​the following countries: Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Chad, Mauritania, Egypt, Tunisia, etc. Sandstorms of the Sahara can partially reach even the territory of Europe.

The largest deserts in the world: Arabian and Gobi

Listing largest deserts in the world You cannot ignore the second largest desert - the Arabian Desert. As the name suggests, the Arabian Sand Zone is located on the peninsula of the same name. It covers Saudi Arabia, a small part of Iraq, Syria, East Jordan and Egypt. In the center of the desert is Rub'al Qali, one of the largest sand massifs on Earth. A significant part of the desert is uninhabited due to frequent storms and winds, and large temperature changes. Daily temperatures vary from 40 to 50 degrees in summer, and from 5 to 15 in winter. But there were also cases of zero temperatures.

And, of course, the no less famous zone of the Gobi sands can bear the title - largest desert. In terms of area, this natural area ranks third in the world, and first in Asia. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word for “waterless place.” The Gobi is located in Central Asia, covering Mongolia and part of China, which, in turn, is represented in the world as, practically, the biggest country in the world. The northern border of the desert can be called Mongolian steppes, southern - the Yellow River.

The largest deserts in the world, other options

It is worth briefly mentioning other major largest deserts in the world- this is Australian, which occupies almost the entire territory of the country of the same name, and there are also speculations that it is also largest island in the world; Kalahari - the largest desert in South Africa and Karakum - occupying about 4/5 of the territories of Turkmenistan. But, despite its size, any desert is an equally deadly and merciless place, such as driest desert Atacaba world in South America...

About ten thousand years ago, the area where the largest desert on our planet, the Sahara, is now located, was covered with grass, low shrubs and was densely populated. After our planet slightly changed the tilt of its axis, the climate began to gradually change, it became hot, the rains stopped - and many representatives of the animal world left the resulting desert.

The Sahara (translated from Arabic as “desert”) is the largest desert on our planet, which is located in northern Africa and is located on the territory of ten countries. On geographical map it can be found at the following coordinates: 23° 4′ 47.03″ N. latitude, 12° 36′ 44.3″ e. d.

The Sahara occupies about thirty percent of the African continent, and its area is about 9 million km2:

• From east to west, the length of the desert is 4800 km: the Sahara begins off the coast Atlantic Ocean and ends at the coast of the Red Sea.
• The length of the Sahara from south to north ranges from 800 to 1200 km. The desert begins in the north of the continent near the Mediterranean coast and Atlas Mountains, southern border limited to 16° N. sh., in an area of ​​sedentary ancient dunes, to the south of which begins the tropical savanna Sahel, a transitional area between the desert and the fertile soils of Sudan.

When exactly the Sahara Desert was formed on the territory of the African continent, scientists do not have a consensus: earlier its age was estimated at 5.5 thousand years, then at four, recently they began to be inclined to think that it is even younger, and its lands only became deserted about three thousand years ago.

The desert is located in the northwest of the stable ancient African plate, so ground shaking is rarely observed today. In the center of the platform, the relief rises from west to east: some of the largest high-mountain regions of the desert are the Ahaggar and Tibesti plateaus, where, unlike the rest of the Sahara, snow falls briefly almost every year.

From the northern and southern parts of the uplifts there are deflections of the platform, where in former times there was a sea, and therefore the soil is characterized by the presence of marine sedimentary rocks. In the south of the desert, the flexure of the platform led to the formation of large lakes, which are the main suppliers fresh water your region. First of all, we are talking about Lake Chad and the Ounianga group of lakes.

Sands occupy only a quarter of the Sahara, while the thickness of the sand layer is about 150 meters. Rocky soil predominates: it occupies about 70% of the desert area, the remaining part is volcanic mountains, as well as pebble and sandy-pebble soil.

There are also many aquifers (sedimentary rocks with varying degrees of permeability, the cracks and voids of which are filled with water), which are the main suppliers of water to the oases.

Sometimes there are fertile lands in the desert - mainly near oases that take water from underground rivers and reservoirs, the water of which, due to its own pressure, was able to reach the earth.

On the map of Africa, the Sahara is divided into several regions:

• Western Sahara - located in northwestern Africa, the territory is characterized by coastal lowlands that turn into elevated basement plains and plateaus.
• The central highlands of Ahaggar - on the map are located in the south of Algeria, the highest point is Mount Takhat with a height of 2918 meters, so snow often falls here in winter.
• The Tibesti mountain plateau is located in the center of the desert, in the north of the state of Chad and partly in the south of Libya. Highest point The plateau is the Emi-Kusi volcano, almost 3.5 km high, on the top of which snow falls annually.
• The Tenere Desert is located in the south-central Sahara. It is a sandy plain with an area of ​​about 400 thousand km2, which is located in the northeastern part of Niger and western Chad.
• Libyan Desert - on the map of Africa it is located in the north and is the driest region of the desert.

Climate

The Sahara is the hottest and hottest place on our planet: even the driest desert in the world, the Atacama, which is located in South America, cannot compare with it.

The weather here in summer is extremely hot: air temperatures at this time often exceed 57°C, and the sands heat up to 80°C. At the same time, the Sahara Desert is one of the few places on our planet where evaporation significantly exceeds the amount of precipitation (with the exception of narrow coastal strips). While the average precipitation is only 100 mm (and there may not be any in the center for several years in a row), 2 to 5 thousand mm of moisture evaporates.

Conventionally, the Sahara can be divided into two climatic zones, northern (subtropical) and southern (tropical):

The northern part of the desert is characterized by hot summers (up to 58°C) and cold winters (especially cold weather in the mountains, where temperatures can drop to -18°C). The annual precipitation rate is 80 mm, rainy weather here from December to March and in August, with thunderstorms and even severe short-term floods not uncommon. In winter, snow falls briefly on the high plateaus of Ahaggar and Tibesti almost every year.

The south is characterized by mild winters, and at the end of the hot and dry period it rains. In mountainous regions there is little precipitation, and it occurs evenly throughout the year. In the lowlands, rain falls in the summer, often accompanied by thunderstorms; about 130 mm of precipitation falls per year. In the west, near the Atlantic coast, the humidity is higher than in the rest of the Sahara, and there are often fogs here.

The difference between day and night air temperatures in the Sahara is often about forty degrees: average temperature in the center of the desert in July it is 35 °C, while at night the air temperature drops to +10 or +15 °C. The weather here is warm even in winter: the temperature of the coldest month of the year is +10°C (therefore, snow is an extremely rare phenomenon).

The climate of the Sahara is greatly influenced by constantly blowing strong winds, especially in the north of the desert (only 20 days a year are windless). Winds blow mainly from north to east: the movement of moist air masses of Mediterranean air stops mountain range Atlas Mountains

As for the air currents that move from the south, when they reach the central part of the desert, they manage to lose moisture. Therefore, the winds in the northern part of the desert have especially destructive power. They move at a speed of about 50 m/s and, raising dust, sand, and small stones to a height of more than a thousand meters, cause tornadoes and severe sandstorms, often moving dunes.

Water resources

The only river in North Africa that passes through the eastern part of the Sahara towards Mediterranean Sea is the Nile, whose length is 6852 km (the river is the second longest after the Amazon, and flows through South America).

Since as we move through the desert, a considerable part of the water evaporates, an important role is played by its two tributaries, the White and Blue Nile, which flow into it in the southeast of the desert (they are very clearly visible on the map). In the 60s of the last century, the Nasser reservoir was created between Egypt and Sudan, the total area of ​​which exceeds 5 thousand km2.

In the south of the Sahara, several river streams flow into Lake Chad, whose area ranges from 27 to 50 thousand km2 (depending on precipitation in the region), after which part of the water leaves the lake - and the water continues to flow into northeast direction, while replenishing watersheds.

In the southwest the Niger River flows into the Gulf of Guinea of ​​the Atlantic Ocean. This river is interesting because starting almost near the ocean, 240 km from the coast, it flows in the opposite direction, into the Sahara, after which it turns sharply to the right and continues its path to southeast direction(the shape of the river, if you look at a map of Africa, resembles a boomerang).

IN northern part In the desert, water comes from streams of wadis, temporary water streams that appear after rainfalls and flow down from the mountains. Wadis also feed the desert soil in its central part. A lot of rainwater is found in the dunes: once in the sand, the water seeps down the slopes and flows down.

Under the desert sands there are huge pools of groundwater, thanks to which oases are formed (there are especially many of them in the north of the Sahara, while in the south the aquifers are located deeper).

Another source of water in the largest desert on the planet is located on the outskirts and in mountain ranges relict lakes (remains of former seas), often swampy and salty, although fresh ones are often found among them (for example, the water of most lakes of the Unianga group).

Flora

There is little vegetation in the Sahara - mainly shrubs, herbs and trees that grow near natural bodies of water, along wadis or in high-altitude regions, including olives, cypress, dates, thyme, and citrus fruits.

In areas where there is little water supply, only those types of vegetation are found that tolerate drought well. In rocky areas and places where sand accumulates, there are no plants at all.

Fauna

The desert is home to almost 4 thousand representatives of the animal world, most of which are invertebrates. Animals of the Sahara Desert live mainly near water (they are practically not found in arid areas) and are nocturnal.

Most of the animals are monitor lizards, cobras, lizards, chameleons, and snails. The reservoirs are inhabited by crocodiles, frogs, and crustaceans. There are about sixty species of mammals, including cheetah, spotted hyena, sand fox, and mongoose.

About 300 species of birds live in the Sahara, 50% of them are migratory. These are primarily ostriches, African eagle owls, fantailed and desert crows and others.

Desert and people

Despite its huge area, the desert is sparsely inhabited: only 2.5 million people live here. Some peoples lead a nomadic lifestyle, but most prefer to settle down. People settle only near oases, as well as in the valleys of the Nile and Niger rivers, where there is enough water and vegetation to survive and feed livestock. At the same time, cattle breeding: goats and sheep predominates over fishing and hunting.