Largest Desert in the World - Desert Map Home » Records » Largest Desert The World's Largest Deserts A map showing the generalized location of Earth's ten largest deserts and a table of over 20 major deserts. World desert map: This map shows the generalized location of Earth's ten largest deserts on the basis of surface area. The table at the bottom of this page provides the names, generalized locations, and surface areas of over twenty major deserts. Base map by NOAA. Sand dunes in the Sahara Desert of Libya: Most people think of deserts as "sandy" landscapes. That is true part of the time. This is a view of sand dunes in the Sahara Desert of Libya - an area known as the Ubari (or Awbari) Sand Sea. Photo © iStockphoto / PatrickPoendl. What is a Desert? A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year (about ten inches). Approximately 1/3 of Earth's land surface is a desert.

There are four different types of deserts based upon their geographic situation: 1) polar deserts, 2) subtropical deserts, 3) cold winter deserts, and 4) cool coastal deserts. As shown on the map above, deserts occur on all of Earth's continents. The Largest Desert The two largest deserts on Earth are in the polar areas. The Antarctic Polar Desert covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles. The second-largest desert is the Arctic Polar Desert. It extends over parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It has a surface area of about 5.4 million square miles. McMurdo Dry Valleys: The largest deserts on Earth are in the polar regions. This is one of the McMurdo "dry valleys" near Lake Hoare, Antarctica. The Canada Glacier is in the background. Photograph by Peter West, National Science Foundation. Non-Polar Deserts The rest of Earth's deserts are outside of the polar areas. The largest is the Sahara Desert, a subtropical desert in northern Africa. It covers a surface area of about 3.5 million square miles.

A list of more than twenty of the largest non-polar deserts can be found below. Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona: Cacti and grasses in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Photo © iStockphoto / vlynder. The Desert Environment When most people think of a desert, they imagine a landscape covered with sand and sand dunes. Although many deserts are sand-covered, most are not. Many desert landscapes are rocky surfaces. They are rocky because any sand-size or smaller particles on the surface are quickly blown away. Rocky deserts are barren wind-swept landscapes. Most deserts receive so little precipitation that surface streams usually only flow immediately after rainfall - unless the stream has a source of water outside of the desert. Streams that enter a desert usually suffer major water losses before they exit. Some of the water is lost to evaporation. Some is lost to transpiration (taken up by plants and then released to the atmosphere from the plants). And, some is lost to infiltration (water soaking into the ground through the bottom of the stream channel). Desert Fauna and Flora The plants and animals that live in a desert must be adapted to the environment.

Plants must be very tolerant to intense sun, prolonged periods without precipitation, and have an ability to prevent moisture loss to conditions of severe temperature ranges, dry winds, and low humidity. Animals must be able to tolerate temperature extremes, temperature ranges, and have an ability to survive with very little water. Many animals adapt to desert conditions by living underground and being active at night. Major Deserts of the World Name Sahara Desert: Profile (Geography, Climate, Wildlife) Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert is The World's Largest Hot Desert Sahara Desert, Algeria, Africa. Digital Vision/Getty Images By Amanda Briney The Sahara Desert is located in the northern portion of Africa and covers over 3,500,000 square miles (9,000,000 sq km) or roughly 10% of the continent (image) . It is bounded in the east by the Red Sea and it stretches west to the Atlantic Ocean . To the north, the Sahara Desert 's northern boundary is the Mediterranean Sea , while in the south it ends at the Sahel, an area where the desert landscape transforms into a semi-arid tropical savanna.

Since the Sahara Desert makes up nearly 10% of the African continent, the Sahara is often cited as the world's largest desert . This is not entirely true, however, as it is only the world's largest hot desert. Based on the definition of a desert as an area receiving less than 10 inches (250 mm) of precipitation per year, the world's largest desert is actually the continent of Antarctica at 5,339,573 sq mi (13,829,430 sq km). Geography of the Sahara Desert The Sahara covers parts of several African nations including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Most of the Sahara Desert is undeveloped and features a varied topography . Most of its landscape has been shaped over time by wind and includes sand dunes , sand seas called ergs, barren stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys and salt flats . Around 25% of the desert is sand dunes, some of which reach over 500 ft (152 m) in height.

There are also several mountain ranges within the Sahara and many are volcanic. The highest peak found in these mountains is Emi Koussi, a shield volcano that rises to 11,204 ft (3,415 m). It is a part of the Tibesti Range in northern Chad. The lowest point in the Sahara Desert is in Egypt's Qattera Depression at -436 ft (-133 m) below sea level. Most of the water found in the Sahara today is in the form of seasonal or intermittent streams. The only permanent river in the desert is the Nile River that flows from Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. Other water in the Sahara is found in underground aquifers and in areas where this water reaches the surface, there are oases and sometimes small towns or settlements like the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt and Ghardaïa in Algeria. Since the amount of water and topography varies based on location, the Sahara Desert is divided into different geographic zones. The center of the desert is considered hyper-arid and has little to no vegetation, while the northern and southern portions have sparse grasslands, desert shrub and sometimes trees in areas with more moisture.

Climate of the Sahara Desert Although hot and extremely dry today, it is believed that the Sahara Desert has undergone various climatic shifts for the last few hundred thousand years. For example, during the last glaciation , it was bigger than it is today because precipitation in the area was low. But from 8000 BCE to 6000 BCE, precipitation in the desert increased because of the development of low pressure over ice sheets to its north. Once these ice sheets melted however, the low pressure shifted and the northern Sahara dried out but the south continued to receive moisture due to the presence of a monsoon. Around 3400 BCE, the monsoon moved south to where it is today and the desert again dried out to the state it is in today. In addition, the presence of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, ITCZ , in the southern Sahara Desert prevents moisture from reaching the area, while storms north of the desert stop before reaching it as well. As a result, the annual rainfall in the Sahara is below 2.5 cm (25 mm) per year. In addition to being extremely dry, the Sahara is also one of the hottest regions in the world.

The average annual temperature for the desert is 86°F (30°C) but during the hottest months temperatures can exceed 122°F (50°C), with the highest temperature ever recorded at 136°F (58°C) in Aziziyah, Libya. Plants and Animals of the Sahara Desert Due to the high temperatures and arid conditions of the Sahara Desert, the plant life in the Sahara Desert is sparse and includes only around 500 species. These consist mainly of drought and heat resistant varieties and those adapted to salty conditions (halophytes) where there is sufficient moisture. The harsh conditions found in the Sahara Desert have also played a role in the presence of animal life in the Sahara Desert. In the central and driest part of the desert there are around 70 different animal species, 20 of which are large mammals like the spotted hyena. Other mammals include the gerbil, sand fox and Cape hare. Reptiles like the sand viper and the monitor lizard are present in the Sahara as well. People of the Sahara Desert It is believed that people have inhabited the Sahara Desert since 6000 BCE and earlier.

Since then, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Europeans have been among the peoples in the area. Today the Sahara's population is around 4 million with the majority of the people living in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania and Western Sahara . Most of the people living in the Sahara today do not live in cities; instead they are nomads who move from region to region throughout the desert. Because of this, there are many different nationalities and languages in the region but Arabic is most widely spoken. For those who do live in cities or villages on fertile oases, crops and the mining of minerals like iron ore (in Algeria and Mauritania) and copper (in Mauritania) are important industries that have allowed population centers to grow. To learn more about the Sahara visit Geology.com's Sahara Desert Map . Landforms of Africa, Deserts of Africa, Mountain Ranges of Africa, Rivers of Africa - Worldatlas.com Print this map Atlas Mountains: This mountain system runs from southwestern Morocco along the Mediterranean coastline to the eastern edge of Tunisia. Several smaller ranges are included, namely the High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Maritime Atlas. The highest peak is Mt. Toubkal in western Morocco at 13,671 ft.

(4,167 m). Congo River Basin: The Congo River Basin of Central Africa dominates the landscape of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and much of neighboring Congo. In addition, it stretches into Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Zambia. The fertile basin is about 1,400,000 sq. miles (3,600,000 sq. km) in size and contains almost 20% of the world's rain forest. The Congo River is the second longest river in Africa, and it's network of rivers, tributaries and streams help link the people and cities of the interior. Ethiopian Highlands: The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea (which is sometimes referred to as the Eritrean Highlands), and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian Highlands form the largest continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent, with little of its surface falling below 1500 m (4,921 ft.), while the summits reach heights of up to 4550 m (14,928 ft.). Sometimes it is referred to as the Roof of Africa for its height and large area.

Great Rift Valley: A dramatic depression on the earth's surface, approximately 4,000 miles (6,400 km) in length, extends from the Red Sea area near Jordan in the Middle East, south to the African country of Mozambique. In essence, it's a series of geological faults caused by huge volcanic eruptions centuries back, that subsequently created what we now call the Ethiopian Highlands, and a series of perpendicular cliffs, mountain ridges, rugged valleys and very deep lakes along it's entire length. Many of Africa's highest mountains front the Rift Valley, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Mount Margherita. Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mountains: The Hoggar Mountains, also known as the Ahaggar, are a highland region in central Sahara, or southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. They are located about 1,500 km (900 mi) south of the capital, Algiers and just west of Tamanghasset. The region is largely rocky desert with an average altitude of more than 900 metres (2,953 feet) above sea level. The highest peak is at 3,003 meters (Mount Tahat).

Kalahari Desert: It's about 100,000 sq. miles (259,000 sq. km) in size and covers much of Botswana, the southwestern region of South Africa and all of western Namibia. The desert plateau is criss-crossed by dry rivers beds and dense scrub. A few small mountain ranges are situated here including the Karas and the Huns. Large herds of wildlife are found in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, located in South Africa near its border with Namibia. Namib Desert: The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa that stretches for more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to 200 km (120 mi) inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment.

Annual precipitation ranges from 2 mm (0.079 in) in the most arid regions to 200 mm (7.9 in) at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. The Namib is also the oldest desert in the world and its geology consists of sand seas near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The desert's sand dunes, some of which are 300 m (980 ft) high and span 32 km (20 mi) long, are the second largest in the world after the Badain Jaran Desert dunes in China. Nile River System: The longest river in the world (flows north), rising from the highlands of southeastern Africa and running about 4,160 miles (6,693 km) in length, to then drain in the Mediterranean Sea. In simple terms it's a series of dams, rapids, streams, swamps, tributaries and waterfalls. Numerous (major) rivers comprise the overall system, including the Albert Nile, Blue Nile, Victoria Nile and White Nile.

Sahel: The Sahel is a wide stretch of land running completely across north-central Africa, just on the southern edges of the ever-expanding Sahara Desert. This border region is the transition zone between the dry areas of the north and the tropical areas of the south. It receives very little rain (six - eight inches a year) and most of the vegetation is a savanna growth of sparse grasses and shrubs. Sahara Desert: Covering almost one-third of the continent, the Sahara is the largest desert in the world at approximately 3,500,000 sq. miles (9,065,000 sq. km) in total size. Topography includes areas of rock-strew plains, rolling sand dunes and numerous sand seas. It ranges in elevation from 100 ft. below sea level, to peaks in the Ahaggar and Tibesti mountains that exceed 11,000 ft. (3,350m). Regional deserts include the Libyan, Nubian and the Western desert of Egypt, just to the west of the Nile. Almost completely without rainfall, a few underground rivers flow from the Atlas Mountains, helping to irrigate isolated oases.

In the east, the water's of the Nile help fertilize smaller parts of the landscape. Famous Deserts in Africa | USA Today Famous Deserts in Africa Shrubs grow in Botswana's Kalahari Desert. (Photo: Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images ) Related Articles Pyramids of Africa Deserts are defined as geographic regions that receive 10 or fewer inches of precipitation annually. The continent of Africa is the second largest in the world, and over 25 percent of its total land area is desert. Although they are inhospitable and even dangerous places to live or travel, the most famous African deserts are not devoid of life. Centuries of adaptation to desert climate challenges has made it possible for people, plants and animals to cope with Africa's harsh desert environments. Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert, Africa's largest and perhaps most well known desert area, is also the world's largest desert at 3.3 million square miles and growing. Its reach extends over almost 25 percent of the African continent, through parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and the Western Sahara.

The diverse landscapes of the Sahara include massive sand dunes, salt flats, gravel stretches and dry valleys, along with mountains. The Sahara supports 90 bird species, a total of 70 mammal species including 20 species of large mammals, and 100 reptile species. The Kalahari The Kalahari Desert was famous even before it appeared as the backdrop for the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy," which gave viewers a glimpse into the culture and lives of Botswana's nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Bushmen, who live in the arid region. The Kalahari covers 362,500 square miles. The desert's arid, hostile environment affects parts of the southern African countries Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Its woody shrubs and acacia trees, along with 400 other species of plants, help the charming meerkats, lions, hyena and antelopes survive in its challenging environmental. The Namib The Namib Desert in southwestern Africa spreads along Namibia's Atlantic coast and reaches into South Africa and Angola.

It covers an area of 100,000 square miles, and is the world's oldest desert, with a lifespan of approximately 55 million years. Rose sand dunes punctuate the landscape, some over 900 feet high. The Namib's succulent and shrub plant species include the unusual Welwitschia mirabilis, which lives for 1,000 years or more. The Namib supports a variety of animal life, including two of Africa's large mammals, lions and elephants. The animals have adapted to the scarcity of water and the rugged terrain. African Desertification The Sahel region, which borders the Sahara, is not a true desert but may become one as the Sahara advances southward. Arid lands on the edge of the Sahara in the Horn of Africa, such as the Ogaden Desert, consume portions of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and the Sudan. Egypt's Nubian Desert and Ethiopia's Danakil Desert are also arid environments that might soon become Africa's next big desert.

References The Deserts of Africa - Unimaginable Beauty, Africa Safaris Return to Safari Planning The Deserts of Africa -- Unimaginable Beauty Africa - the second largest continent in the world is also home to the largest desert in the world - the Sahara. In fact there are three deserts on the continent - The Sahara, the Namib and the Kalahari. Together these three amazingly vast and diverse land masses cover a large portion of Africa. Beautiful, yet treacherous, these areas of the continent provide a rich geological and cultural history that dates back millions of years. The Sahara Desert - As inconceivable as it seems, this desert is ever changing, shrinking and growing in size. Satellite photos studied from the early 1980s show that the Sahara's southern edge is expanding into the Sahel, a dry band that separates the desert from the Savanna. But the mid-1980s saw this area grow green and wet again. A common trade route for many centuries, caravans traveled through the Sahara spending days and weeks traversing the immense landscape. Several desert oases here made trade possible between the ports of North African and the southern Savannah markets.

There are around 4 million people or so that dwell in the Sahara, mostly in Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt. Additionally there is a fascinating and impressive array of animal life, include gerbil, jerboa, cape hare, desert hedgehog, barbary sheep, oryx, gazelle, deer, wild ass, baboon, hyena, jackal, sand fox, weasel and mongoose. The bird life includes more than 300 species. This vast life and diverse culture comes all in one desert. The Namib Desert - The sand dunes of the Namib Desert are the highest dunes on Earth. While the Sahara is the largest desert in the world, the Namib is considered the oldest desert, having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for at least 80 million years. In the Nama language, Namib means “vast”, and this is no exaggeration. At 50,000 kilometers, the Namib-Naukluft Park is the largest conservation area in Namibia and one of the largest in the world. Wind blows the thirsty Namib Desert sand into sharp ridges.

Amazingly there are animals, insects and plants that reside in this beautiful, yet mostly inhospitable region of the world. One of its most unusual inhabitants, the Welwitschia, is a shrub-like plant that grows just two long, strap-shaped leaves continuously throughout its lifetime. It is believed that they are very long-lived, possibly living 1000 years or more. Some individuals may be more than 2000 years old. The Kalahari Desert - A geological wonder, the Kalahari Desert is part of the huge sand basin that reaches from the Orange River up to Angola, in the west to Namibia and in the east to Zimbabwe. The sand masses of wind-shaped sand that are so common in the Kalahari landscape were created by the erosion of soft stone formations. Thanks to vegetation in the area, the dunes were stabilized 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Strangely enough, the grasses, thorny shrubs and Acacia trees can survive long drought periods of more than 10 months a year.

Some scientists don’t consider the Kalahari a true desert because some parts of the Kalahari receive more than 10 inches of rain in a year. Animals that live in the region include brown hyena, lion, meerkat, several species of antelope, and many types of birds and reptiles. Eyes on Africa, an African safari company, boasts an extremely knowledgeable team of staff members, who are passionate about every aspect of travel to Africa, including its wildlife and safari destinations. When you're ready to plan your African safari, a holiday in Africa, or if you just have questions, please feel free to contact us toll free at 800-457-9575 or visit our web site at and complete an information request form. Eyes on Africa was selected most knowledgeable Regional Expert for Southern Africa / Safaris by National Geographic Traveler Magazine, The Sahara: Facts, Climate and Animals of the Desert The Sahara: Facts, Climate and Animals of the Desert By Kim Ann Zimmermann, Live Science Contributor | September 12, 2012 04:50pm ET MORE The Sahara is the world’s largest hot desert and one of the harshest environments on the planet.

It is third largest desert overall after Antarctica and the Arctic, which are cold deserts. At 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers), the Sahara, which is Arabic for "The Great Desert," engulfs most of North Africa. The desert covers large sections of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. This is the image many people have of the Sahara: a vast sea of sand dunes. The terrain is actually quite varied. Credit: apdesign ShutterStock The Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the western edge, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Air Mountains, an area of desert mountains and high plateaus, Ténéré desert and the Libyan desert, which is the most arid region. In the north, the Sahara reaches to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt and portions of Libya.

In Cyrenaica and the Maghreb, the Sahara experiences a more Mediterranean climate with a winter rainy season. Major cities located in the Sahara include Cairo, Egypt; Tripoli, Libya; Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania; Tamanrasset, Ouargla, Bechar, Hassi Messaoud, Ghardaia, and El Oued in Algeria; Timbuktu in Mali; Agadez in Niger; and Faya-Largeau in Chad. Climate and geography of the Sahara The Sahara’s northeasterly winds can reach hurricane level and often give rise to sand storms and dust devils . Half of the Sahara receives less than an inch of rain per year, and the rest receives up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) per year. The infrequent rain is usually torrential. The highest peak in the Sahara is the volcano Emi Koussi (11,204 feet or 3,415 meters) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad. The desert’s other mountains and mountain ranges include the Aïr Mountains, Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas and the Red Sea hills.

The Hoggar Mountains in Algeria are in the central Sahara. Credit: Pichugin Dmitry ShutterStock Many people imagine the Sahara as dotted with sand dunes, and the desert does have its share of ergs, which are large areas of shifting sand dunes, with some of some of them reaching 590 feet (180 meters). However, most of the Sahara is characterized as rocky hamada, a type of desert landscape that has very little sand and is made up of primarily barren, hard, rocky plateaus. With the exception of the Nile River, the Sahara’s rivers and streams are irregular or seasonal. The Nile crosses the desert from its origins in central Africa to empty into the Mediterranean. The central part of the Sahara has extremely limited vegetation. The northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs. The Addax nasomaculatus, also known as the screwhorn antelope, is the Sahara's largest indigenous mammal Credit: S1001 ShutterStock Animals of the Sahara Thousands of years ago, the Sahara had enough water so that people and animals were able to survive on the edge of the desert.

There is evidence that the area was able to sustain river animals such as crocodiles . Fossils of dinosaurs, including Afrovenator, Jobaria and Ouranosaurus, have also been discovered in the desert. Prehistoric rock paintings also depict cattle, giraffes, elephants and lions that roamed a once-lush Sahara. Today, there is little water or vegetation to sustain life in most part of the Sahara. Some exceptions include the Nile Valley, a few oases, and the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the olive tree are found to grow. The change occurred in about 1600 B.C., after shifts in the Earth's axis increased temperatures and decreased precipitation. Camels, most often associated with the Sahara, were introduced to the desert around 200 A.D. Their advantages over the horses they replaced include soft feet that are aligned so that they can move quickly and easily through sand and their ability to go for up to 17 days without food or water. The venomous deathstalker scorpion can be 4 inches in length. Credit: Ester Inbar Rodents, snakes and scorpions thrive in the desert environment.

The desert is home to the deathstalker scorpion, which can be nearly 4 inches (10 cm) in length. Its dangerous venom contains large amounts of agitoxin and scyllatoxin. Among the 40-plus species of rodents in the Sahara is the jerboa, related to the mouse, rat and squirrel. To keep cool, the jerboa burrows underneath the desert's sands to more humid soils. The Addax nasomaculatus, also known as the screwhorn antelope, is the Sahara's largest indigenous mammal. It travels in small herds throughout the Western Sahara, Mauritania and Chad. Instead of drinking water, it sucks moisture from the desert grasses and bushes. Its oversized hooves make the addax adept at moving through the Sahara's loose sand. Jackals and several types of hyenas are among the carnivores that roam the Sahara. Weighing less than 3 pounds (1.4 kg), the Mall Fennec Fox is another carnivore that makes its home in tunnels in the sand dunes during the day and comes out at night to prey on the rodents. — Kim Ann Zimmermann World's Largest Desert What is the largest desert in the world?

The Answer: The largest (nonpolar) desert in the world is the Sahara , in north Africa , which spans an area measured at roughly 3.5 million square miles. The United States' contiguous 48 states could easily fit in the desert. It spans more than 3,000 miles across Africa , stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the north and it spreads all the way down to central Africa, some 1,200 miles south. For a list of the rest of the world's largest desert regions, check out our table of Principal Deserts of the World . —The Editors What are the names of all deserts in Africa? | Reference.com What are the names of all deserts in Africa? A: Quick Answer The following deserts are found in Africa: Kalahari, Namib, Chalbi, Danakil, Sahara, Tanzerouft, White Desert, Eastern Desert, Sinai Desert, Blue Desert, Atlantic Coastal Desert and Libyan Desert, which is also called the Western Desert. The deserts in Africa vary widely in size and location.

Some, such as the Kalahari and Sahara, are vast stretches of hot and barren lands that cover significant portions of the African continent, while others, such as the Atlantic Coastal Desert, are considerably smaller. Full Answer Some deserts exist in individual countries while others cross national boundaries. The Kalahari, for instance, covers parts of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. The Namib Desert, in contrast, resides in Namibia. Although they are different in size and physical characteristics, the Kalahari and the Namibia deserts exist close to each other on the African continent. The Kalahari covers approximately 360,000 square miles. It covers a large section of land in the interior plateau of southern Africa, extends across the Northern Cape province in South Africa, and combines with the Namib Desert in Namibia. The Kalahari, like many deserts, has a hot and dry climate. It consists primarily of sand dunes and gently undulating sandy valleys, which share an approximate average elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level. The Kalahari consists of three primary topographical features: sand sheets, dunes and vleis.

Top Ten Largest Deserts in the World | The Wondrous Top Ten Largest Deserts in the World Nature, Top Ten Pinterest0 10. Kara-Kum Desert, Uzbekistan / Turkmenistan In our list of largest deserts in the world at #10 is The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum is a desert in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent, or 350,000 km², of the area of Turkmenistan. Covering much of present day Turkmenistan, the Karakum Desert lies east of the Caspian Sea, with the Aral Sea to the north and the Amu Darya river and the Kyzyl Kum desert to the northeast. In modern times, with the shrinking of the Aral Sea, the extended “Aral Karakum” has appeared on the former seabed, with an estimated area of 15,440 sq. The sands of the Aral Karakum are made up of a salt-marsh consisting of finely-dispersed evaporites and remnants of alkaline mineral deposits, washed into the basin from irrigated fields.

The dusts blown on a powerful east-west airstream carry pesticide residues that have been found in the blood of penguins in Antarctica. Lets read about top ten largest deserts in the world. 9. Great Sandy Desert, Australia The Great Sandy Desert is a 360,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi) expanse in northwestern Australia. Roughly the same size as Japan, it forms part of a larger desert area known as the Western Desert. The vast region of Western Australia is sparsely populated, without significant settlements. The Great Sandy Desert is a flat area between the rocky ranges of the Pilbara and the Kimberley. To the southeast is the Gibson Desert and to the east is the Tanami Desert. The Rudall River National Park and Lake Dora are located in the southwest while Lake Mackay is located in the southeast. Image credit: yaruman5 8.

Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra Madre Oriental. On the U.S. side it occupies the valleys and basins of central and southern New Mexico, Texas west of the Pecos River and southeastern Arizona; south of the border, it covers the northern half of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, most of Coahuila, north-east portion of Durango, extreme northern portion of Zacatecas and small western portions of Nuevo León. It has an area of about 140,000 square miles. It is the third largest desert of the Western Hemisphere and is second largest in North America, after the Great Basin Desert. Via: wikipedia 7. Great Basin Desert, USA The Great Basin is the largest watershed of North America which does not drain to an ocean. Water within the Great Basin evaporates since outward flow is blocked.

The basin extends into Mexico and covers most of Nevada and over half of Utah, as well as parts of California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming. The majority of the watershed is in the North American Desert ecoregion, but includes areas of the Forested Mountain and Mediterranean California ecoregions. The Great Basin includes several metropolitan areas and Shoshone Great Basin tribes. A wide variety of animals can be found in great basin desert. Look to the rocky slopes around the desert mountain ranges, you may spot a very rare desert bighorn sheep. Other mammals of the desert include kit fox, coyote, skunk, black-tailed jackrabbit, ground squirrels, kangaroo rat and many species of mice. Bird species are very diverse in desert oases. Via: wikipedia 6. Great Victoria Desert, Australia The Great Victoria Desert is a barren, arid, and sparsely populated desert ecoregion in southern Australia. It falls inside the states of South Australia and Western Australia and consists of many small sandhills, grasslands and salt lakes.

It is over 700 kilometres (430 mi) wide (from west to east) and covers an area of 424,400 square kilometres (163,900 sq mi). The Western Australia Mallee shrub ecoregion lies to the west, the Little Sandy Desert to the northwest, the Gibson Desert and the Central Ranges xeric shrublands to the north, the Tirari and Sturt Stony deserts to the east, and the Nullarbor Plain to the south separates it from the Southern Ocean. Image credit: Travel Collective 5. Patagonia Desert, Argentina The Patagonian Desert, also known as the Patagonia Desert or the Patagonian Steppe, is the largest desert in America and is the 7th largest desert in the world by area, occupying 260,000 square miles (673,000 km). It is located primarily in Argentina with small parts in Chile and is bounded by the Andes, to its west, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, in the region of Patagonia, southern Argentina.

The Patagonian Desert is the largest continental landmass of the 40° parallel and is a large cold winter desert, where the temperature rarely exceeds 12°C and averages just 3°C. The region experiences about seven months of winter and five months of summer. Image credit: Melissa Toledo 4. Kalahari Desert, Southern Africa The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in Southern Africa extending 900,000 square kilometers (350,000 sq), covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari Desert is the southern part of Africa, and the geography is a portion of desert and a plateau. The Kalahari supports some animals and plants because most of it is not a true desert. There are small amounts of rainfall and the summer temperature is very high. It usually receives 3–7.5 inches (76–190 mm) of rain per year.

The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2,500,000 square kilometers (970,000 sq mi) extending farther into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The only permanent river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the northwest, forming marshes that are rich in wildlife. Via: wikipedia 3. Gobi Desert, Mongolia / N.E China The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is made up of several distinct ecological and geographic regions based on variations in climate and topography. This desert is the fifth largest in the world. The Gobi is most notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road. Image Credit: PnP 2.

Arabian Desert, peninsula Arabian Desert or Eastern Desert, c.86,000 sq mi (222,740 sq km), E Egypt, bordered by the Nile valley in the west and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez in the east. It extends along most of Egypt’s eastern border and merges into the Nubian Desert in the south. The Arabian Desert is sparsely populated; most of its inhabitants are based around wells and springs. Today most of the desert can be accessed by roads. Since ancient times Egypt has used the porphyry, granite, limestone, and sandstone found in the desert mountains as building materials. Oil is produced in the north. The name Arabian Desert is also commonly applied to the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. Image Credit: Nick Leonard 1. Sahara Desert, North Africa The Sahara is the world’s largest desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometers (3,500,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe.

The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel: a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa. Biggest Deserts on Earth | Sahara Desert & Antarctica Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Big deserts Earth is a planet covered with habitable areas, but some of those locations are a little more hostile to life than others. In deserts, which generally are defined as areas that receive less than 10 inches (254 millimeters) of rain or snow annually, the plants and animals must subsist on this meager precipitation. The world's 10 biggest deserts are found on just about every continent, many of them forming in the shadow of immense mountain ranges that block moisture from nearby oceans or bodies of water. They're often the site of unusual rock formations and, in some cases, amazing archaeological finds.

2 of 12 Credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center Chihuahuan Desert 175,000 square miles (282,000 square km) Straddling the U.S.-Mexico border, the Chihuahuan Desert is bigger than the state of California, according to New Mexico State University. Parts of it are in the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Less than 9 inches (228 mm) of rainfall falls on average every year, according to the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition. As with many other deserts worldwide, the Chihuahuan Desert formed in the rain shadow of both the Sierre Madre Occidental (on the west) and the Sierra Madre Oriental (on the east), which both stop water from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico from getting inland. Underneath the desert and New Mexico's Guadalupe Mountains lies more than 300 caves . Those in at least one of those regions, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, were created after sulfuric acid penetrated the surrounding limestone.

3 of 12 Credit: NASA/Robert Simmon, based on Landsat 5 data from the Global Land Cover Facility Great Basin Desert 190,000 square miles (492,000 square km) Unlike every other desert in the United States, the Great Basin is a "cold" desert — one where most of the precipitation falls as snow. Its geographic extent includes most of Nevada, part of Utah and parts of many surrounding states. Rainfall in the region ranges between 6 and 12 inches (150 and 300 mm) annually. The desert came to be because it was in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California , according to the National Park Service. The desert, in turn, also affects surrounding areas. Strong winds known as the Santa Ana often blow into Southern California after forming in areas of high pressure in the Great Basin. The Great Basin is also home to some unusual rocks, such as some found in central Nevada in 2009 that were described as dripping like honey . The deformation is taking place due to changes in the Earth's mantle, which alters due to intense pressure and heat within Earth's surface.

Heavier material in the lithosphere, as it warms up, sinks through the lighter mantle, trailing material after it. 4 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Syrian Desert 200,000 square miles (518,000 square km) The Syrian Desert is described as an "arid wasteland" by Merriam-Webster. Covering much of Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, the region is marked by lava flows and was an "impenetrable barrier" to humans until recent decades. Now, highways and oil pipelines cross the region, which receives less than 5 inches (125 mm) of rain annually, on average. Humans were able to reach parts of it in ancient times, though. One area, now dubbed " Syria's Stonehenge ," was discovered in 2009. It includes stone circles and possibly, tombs, according to a 2012 Discovery News report. The Es Safa volcano field near Damascus is Arabia's largest volcanic field. The vents found in that area were active about 12,000 years ago, during the Holocene Epoch.

More recently, a boiling lava lake was spotted in the region around 1850. 5 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC Great Victoria Desert 250,000 square miles (647,000 square km) The Great Victoria Desert covers a great deal of Australia and is mostly made up of parallel dunes as well as some salt lakes, according to an atlas from the Government of South Australia. The dunes are mostly red sand that came from the Western Australian Shield, changing to white as one moves south due to sands coming from the coast. The Australian government describes the region as one with "variable and unpredictable rainfall." Averaging out data between 1890 and 2005, rainfall is about 6.4 inches (162 mm) annually. Due to the harsh environment, most of the desert is split between Aboriginal lands, conservation areas and crown land, with no major cities. One of the Outback's greatest ecological threats comes from camels, whose ancestors were imported from India, Afghanistan and Arabia during the 19th century for work in the desert.

A 2013 BBC report said the approximately 750,000 feral camels drink an ordinate amount of water and also damage infrastructure. "Camels are almost uniquely brilliant at surviving the conditions in the Outback," said explorer Simon Reeve in the report. "Introducing them was short-term genius and long-term disaster." 6 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Patagonian Desert 260,000 square miles (673,000 square km) The Patagonian Desert is a large desert lying across much of Argentina. The desert and semi-desert area stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes, with mostly treeless plains, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Like California's Death Valley, the Patagonian Desert lies in the "rain shadow" of a high mountain range — in Patagonia's case, the Andes.

Some regions of the desert receive as little as 6 to 8 inches (160 to 200 mm) of rainfall a year, according to Dryland Climatology, a 2011 book by Florida State University meteorologist Sharon E. Nicholson. "When air masses are forced over mountains and downslope, they warm and their capacity for holding water vapor increases," wrote Susan Woodward, an emeritus geography professor at Virginia's Radford University, on a website about deserts . On the leeward side of a mountain, she added, evaporation happens faster than rainfall, creating an arid environment. 7 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team Kalahari Desert 360,000 square miles (930,000 square km) The Kalahari Desert covers large tracts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

It averages less than 20 inches (500 mm) of rain a year in, but some locations receive less than 8 inches (200 mm) annually, according to the 1991 book The Kalahari Environment by David G. Thomas and Paul A. Shaw. Described as "featureless" by the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Kalahari is mostly covered by sand sheets that were formed sometime between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago, probably due to the action of wind and rain. The sheets have been virtually unchanged since then. The Kalahari was also a site of human activity thousands of years ago. In one excavated area, South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave, archaeologists found evidence of fires lit about one million years ago . A separate discovery of artifacts in Botswana's Tsodilo Hills implied humans performed rituals 70,000 years ago .

8 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Gobi Desert 800,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) Encompassing large regions of China and Mongolia, the Gobi Desert is arid in parts and more "monsoon-like" in others, meaning it sees wet and dry seasons, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Rainfall varies from about 2 to 8 inches a year (50 mm to 200 mm), depending on the location. The eastern region in particular gets a lot of rainfall in the summer, similar to how monsoons operate in wetter regions. In 2011, strange zigzag patterns in the Gobi emerged in Google's pictures, prompting a range of conspiracy theories that even included aliens. But the lines were most likely used to calibrate Chinese spy satellites to help the spacecraft orient themselves in orbit, said Jonathon Hill, a research technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. The Gobi is also a good spot for dinosaur-hunting.

A rare Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton uncovered in that region was auctioned off in 2012 , fetching $1 million amid a legal dispute. 9 of 12 Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center Arabian Desert 900,000 square miles (2.3 million square km) The Arabian Desert encompasses Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries such as Oman and parts of Iraq. How dry and hot the desert is depends on where you're standing. The interior of the desert can get to a scorching, dry 129 F (54 C). Areas on the coast and in the highlands, however, have more humidity and can also have fog and dew during the cooler parts of the day, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. On average, annual rainfall is less than 4 inches (100 mm), but depending on the region it can range anywhere from 0 to 20 inches (0 to 500 mm). But human activity has artificially irrigated and greened parts of the desert. Crop circles exploded in abundance in Saudi Arabia during the past three decades, according to a series of Landsat images.

These are possible because engineers drilled into a "fossil" water acquifer that is more than 20,000 years old, according to NASA. It has been estimated that at current rates of usage, the water will go dry in 50 years. 10 of 12 Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC Sahara 3.3 million square miles (8.6 million square km) The Sahara is notable not only for its vast size, but parching lack of rainfall. Annual precipitation in the world's second-largest desert is less than 0.9 inches (25 mm) every year. On the east side of the desert, according to NASA, rainfall could be as low as 0.2 inches (5 mm) annually. While water doesn't often fall to the ground, it's common for water droplets to hover above the desert as fog. There isn't much vegetation in the Sahara to hold on to heat after the sun goes down, so the temperatures can actually get quite cold at night. The sudden shift between day and night temperatures can bring about the fog.

The desert also features a high volcano, Emi Koussi , which is in Chad at the southeastern end of the Tibesti Range. Standing 11,204 feet (3,415 meters) above sea level, there are lava flows and other volcanic features that appear to be as young as two million years old. There is also an active thermal region on the volcano's south flank. 11 of 12 Antarctica 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square km) Nestled around the South Pole, where the coldest temperature on Earth was recorded and which doesn't receive sunlight for months every year, it's sometimes hard to think of icy Antarctica as a desert. But it is the world's largest one because very little precipitation falls there — on average, it gets less than 2 inches (50 millimeters) a year, mostly as snow. Despite the low snowfall, vast glaciers cover 99 percent of Antarctica's surface. That's because the average temperature (minus 54 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 48 degrees Celsius) slows down evaporation to a crawl.

Over long periods of time, the snowfall accumulates at a rate faster than Antarctica's ablation, according to "Discovering Antarctica," a project of the U.K.'s Royal Geographical Society. Parts of Antarctica are showing strong signs of warming up along with global climate change, however. Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have increased by 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 degrees Celsius) over the past 50 years — five times the rate of the rest of the planet. And scientists think that warm ocean waters could be melting Antarctica's glaciers as they flow under the floating tongues of ice. 12 of 12

Question: What is the largest desert in Africa?
Answer: Sahara