Fun facts about deserts

The Karakum Desert, also spelt Qaraqum and Garagum, is the 12th largest desert in the world, located in Central Asia. The name refers to the shale-rich sand beneath the surface. It occupies about 70 percent, or roughly 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), of Turkmenistan.

From the “Geography” section

The Mojave Desert is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named after the indigenous Mohave people, it is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah.

From the “Geography” section

The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering 900,000 km2 (350,000 sq mi), including much of Botswana, as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa.

From the “Etymology” section

The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent stretching across India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 264,091 km2 (101,966 sq mi), it is one of the largest subtropical deserts in Asia by area.

From the “Geography” section

Lut Desert is a desert with both extensive salt flats and dunes located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List on July 17, 2016.

From the “Description” section

The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range in the western United States. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S.

From the “Definition and boundaries” section

The Arabian Desert is a vast desert wilderness in West Asia that occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 sq mi). It stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It is the fourth largest desert in the world and the largest in Asia.

From the “Geography” section

The Rub' al Khali is a desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 km2 (250,000 sq mi), including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.

From the “Description” section

The Namib is a coastal desert in Southern Africa.

From the “Etymology” section

The Gobi Desert is a large, cold desert and grassland region in southern Mongolia and North China. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world.

From the “Geography” section

The Atacama Desert is a desert plateau on the Pacific coast of South America, stretching along a 1,600-kilometre-long (1,000-mile) strip of land in northern Chile, west of the Andes. It covers an area of 105,000 km2 (41,000 mi2), rising to 128,000 km2 (49,000 mi2) if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included.

From the “Climate” section

The Patagonian Desert, also known as the Patagonian Steppe, is the largest desert in Argentina and is the eighth-largest desert in the world by area, occupying approx. 673,000 square kilometres.

From the “Geography and climate” section

The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers parts of the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).

From the “Climate” section

The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

From the “Geography” section

The Taklamakan Desert is a desert in northwest China. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the north, and the Gobi Desert to the east.

From the “Etymology” section

From the “Location and name” section

The Sahara is a desert spanning North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic.

From the “Geography” section

The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.

From the “History” section

The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range in the western United States. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S.

From the “Climate” section

The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent stretching across India and Pakistan. Covering an area of 264,091 km2 (101,966 sq mi), it is one of the largest subtropical deserts in Asia by area.

From the “Origin and formation” section

The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers parts of the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).

From the “Flora” section

The Atacama Desert is a desert plateau on the Pacific coast of South America, stretching along a 1,600-kilometre-long (1,000-mile) strip of land in northern Chile, west of the Andes. It covers an area of 105,000 km2 (41,000 mi2), rising to 128,000 km2 (49,000 mi2) if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included.

From the “Flora” section

Lut Desert is a desert with both extensive salt flats and dunes located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List on July 17, 2016.

From the “Geology” section

The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering 900,000 km2 (350,000 sq mi), including much of Botswana, as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa.

From the “History” section