The largest and most famous desert is the Sahara. Its name translates as "sand". The Sahara Desert is the hottest. It is believed that there is no water, vegetation, living creatures, but in reality this is not such an empty zone as it seems at first glance. This unique place once looked like a huge garden with flowers, lakes, trees. But as a result of evolution, a beautiful place has turned into a huge desert. It happened about three thousand years ago, and yet five thousand years ago, the Sahara was a garden.
Geographic features
The Sahara Desert is located in Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Chad, Libya, Morocco, Mali, Niger, Western Sahara and Mauritania. In the summer, the sand warms up to a temperature of 80 degrees. This is one of the few places in which evaporation exceeds several times the amount of precipitation. On average, about 100 mm of precipitation falls annually in the Sahara desert per year, and evaporation is up to 5500 mm. On hot rainy days, raindrops disappear, evaporating until they fall to the ground.
There is fresh water under the Sahara. It has huge reserves: under Egypt, Chad, Sudan and Libya there is a huge lake, in which 370 thousand cubic meters of water.
Desertification of the Sahara began about five thousand years ago. Found cave paintings of those times prove that several thousand years ago, on the site of sand, there was a savannah with a large number of lakes and rivers. Now, in these areas in the sand you can see huge channels. During rains they are filled with waters, turning into full-fledged rivers.
In the photo of the Sahara desert, continuous sands are visible. They occupy a large area. In addition to them in the desert there are sand and pebble, pebble, rocky, solonchak soil types. The thickness of the sands is on average about 150 m, and the largest hills can reach a height of 300 m.
According to scientists, in order to scoop up all the sand from the desert, every person on Earth had to make three million buckets.
Climate
Here is a real kingdom of wind and sand. In the summer, the temperature in the Sahara desert rises to fifty degrees and above, and in winter - to thirty. In southern Sahara, the climate is tropical, dry, and in the north - subtropical.
Rivers
Despite the drought and heat in the desert there is life, but only near water bodies. The largest and greatest river is the Nile. It flows through desert lands. In the last century, a reservoir was built on the banks of the Nile. Because of this, a large lake Toshka was formed. Niger flows in the southwest, and there are several lakes within this river.
Mirages
The air temperature in the Sahara desert is so high that mirages are created at certain times. Exhausted by the heat, travelers begin to see oases with green palm trees and water. It seems to them that these objects are two kilometers from them, in fact, the distance is measured at five hundred or more kilometers. This is an optical illusion arising from the refraction of light at the boundary of different temperatures. Such mirages a day in the desert there are several hundred thousand. There are even special maps designed for travelers, which say in which place, when and what can be seen.
Animal and plant world
The amazing thing is that the desert is filled with a variety of animals. Over the millennia of evolution, they have adapted to survive in such conditions.
Animals of the Sahara desert are found everywhere, but most often not far from rivers and lakes, oases. In total there are about four thousand species. Even in such an arid region as Death Valley, where for several years there is no rain, there are a variety of representatives of the fauna. Here you can even meet thirteen species of fish.
Lizards living in the desert are able to collect moisture from the environment. Sahara - the habitat of camels, monitor lizards, scorpions, snakes, sand cats.
All plants that grow in the desert go deep underground. They are able to get water at a depth of over twenty meters. Mostly spines and cacti grow in the Sahara.
Amazing weather facts
Where the Sahara desert is located, real miracles happen with the weather. As mentioned above, during the day the air warms up to fifty degrees and above, and at night the temperature drops sharply - to zero or below. Here, even snowfalls were recorded. Photos of the Sahara desert in the snow can be found in our article - this amazing phenomenon happens about once every hundred years.
Every few years, in some parts of the desert, there is so much rainfall that moisture is enough to transform the area. It is rapidly turning into a flowering steppe. Plant seeds can be in the sand for a long time, waiting for moisture.
There are oases in the desert. In the center there is always a small pond, and around it - vegetation. Under such oases are huge lakes, an area larger than our Baikal. Groundwater feeds surface lakes.
Desert Features
The desert is a unique natural phenomenon. Travelers can watch the huge dunes move. Due to the winds, the sands move right before our eyes. And in the Sahara, the wind blows every day. This is due to the relatively flat surface of the territory. And if at least twenty days a year there is no wind, then this is real luck.
The size of the desert is constantly changing. If you look at satellite images, you can see how the Sahara is expanding and decreasing in size. This is due to the rainy seasons: where they passed in large numbers, everything quickly covered with vegetation.
Sahara is the largest oil and gas field. There are deposits of iron, gold, uranium, copper, tungsten and other rare metals.
In the middle of the desert is the plateau of Tibesti, the spectacular south of Libya and part of Chad. Above this territory rises the volcano Emmy Kushi with a height of about three and a half kilometers. In this place you can see snowfall almost every year.
The northern part of the desert is occupied by Tener - this is a sandy sea with an area of approximately 400 kilometers. This natural creation is located in the northern part of Niger and western Chad.
How people live
In those places where the Sahara desert is located, people once lived, trees grew, there were many lakes, rivers. After the area became deserted, people went to the banks of the Nile, forming the ancient Egyptian civilization.
In parts of the Sahara, people build houses out of salt. They don’t worry that their housing will melt from the water, because rains are rare here and in small quantities. Their bulk does not have time to fly to the ground, evaporating in the clouds.
Population
Sahara is a sparsely populated area. About two million people live here, and most of them live near water bodies, on islands with vegetation that allow them to feed livestock.
There were times when the territory was densely populated. In the desert, people are engaged in cattle breeding, and on the banks of the rivers - in agriculture. There are people doing other crafts, such as fishing.
Once upon a time, a trade route connecting the Atlantic Ocean with northern Africa passed through the desert. Previously, camels were used to move goods, and now two motorways connecting several large cities have been laid through the Sahara. One of them passes through the largest oasis.
Desert location
And where is the Sahara desert located and how big is it? This natural wonder is located in Africa, in the northern part of the continent. It stretched from west to east for about five thousand kilometers, and from north to south for a thousand kilometers. The area of the Sahara is about nine million square kilometers. This territory is comparable to Brazil.
On the west side, the Sahara is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. In the north, the desert borders the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlas Mountains.
Sahara captures more than ten states. Most of its territory is not populated, as these lands are not adapted for human life. There are no oases, rivers, lakes. All settlements are located precisely on the banks of water bodies, and most of the continent's population lives on the banks of the Nile.
Sugar scientists
Sugar continues to evolve. Gradually, it captures more and more new territories. According to scientists, every year it conquers the earth from people, turning them into sands. The forecasts of scientists are disappointing. If the process of descent continues, then two hundred years later, all of Africa will become one huge Sahara.
The results of the observations showed that each year the Sahara increases in size by ten kilometers. And every year the occupied area is increasing. If the desert continues to grow, then all the rivers and lakes of the continent will dry up forever, forcing people to leave Africa and move to other countries of the world.