Page 162 - SST Class 07

Life in Deserts 22

q Life in the hot desert : Sahara
q Life in the cold desert : Ladakh

Introduction LIFE IN THE HOT DESERT : SAHARA

The moment we speak the word ‘desert’, the
Area and Physical Features
picture of a place covered with dry sand comes
before our eyes. But not all deserts are covered The Sahara is the largest desert in the world. A
with sand. In fact, a desert is a place where water is large part in northern Africa is desert. Its area is
scarce. Thus, any place with scarcity of water can be about 90,65,000 sq km, extending from the
Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Nile in the west.
termed a desert, whether it is in the plains or in the
hills. Dryness of the climate makes the temperature It covers a number of
countries, including
extreme.
western Egypt, part of
Thus, a desert can be hot or cold. It is difficult for western Sudan, large
the people to practise agriculture in such places. parts of Mauritania,
Water is not available in a hot desert, while it is Mali, Niger and Chad
frozen in a cold desert. Both these conditions make and southern parts of
it difficult for plants to survive. Due to lack of plant Morocco, Algeria,
cover, the forces of weathering and erosion are at Tunisia and Libya. An oasis in the Sahara
work continuously.
The all of Sahara is not covered with sand. Its
We shall study a hot desert and a cold desert in this sandy area covers about one-fourth of the total
lesson. area. It has plains, mountains and plateaus. The

ALTITUDE
SCALE
NORTH Strait of Gibraltar (in metres)
M
PACIFIC AINS GULF OF GABES 4000
EDITERRANEA
OCEAN MADEIRA I. MO UNT GULF OF N SEA 2000
Suez Canal
CANARY I. LA S SIDRA Gebel Katherina 1000
AT QATTARA 2,637 SINAL 500
DEPRESSION PENINSULA
WESTERN Nil EAS 200
FEZZAN L IBY DESERT e TERN
AH GGAR MTS. AN 100
Tropic of Cancer 0
A
SAHARA DESERT DESE NUBIAN R ED 1000
EL DJOUF TENE RT Ni e DESERT S E
TIBESTI
DESERT
l
S enegal UD NN I Niger RE A A S I A
TAO BA I E S N L. Chad Atbarah GULF OF A E
D N
DARFUR White Nile L. Tana b
b- l
Chari Blue Ba e -Mande
le
Ni
HORN
NI PIA N
Sobat
O
Volta
G C ET LAND S OF
r ADAMAWA a HIGH Sh AFRICA
Nige
o omoe HIGHLANDS Kott ibe li
Bight of
n g
rain C ast
Benin Sa a a Juba
Cape Palmas Gold Coast gi Uele L. Turkana
Dja Congo Aru i L. Albert
Bight of ban w mi L. Kyoga
GULF OF GUINEA Bonny U Boyoma Falls Mt. Flgon Equator
Sahara Desert
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