Home General Studies World Geography
Major Deserts of the World (Gobi, Gibson, Thar etc)
A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 25 cm 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
4) Cool coastal deserts
Name | Type of Desert | Location |
---|---|---|
Antarctic | Polar | Antarctica |
Arctic | Polar | Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia |
Sahara (Biggest) | Subtropical | Northern Africa (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia) |
Ladakh | cold desert | Ladakh |
Arabian | Subtropical | Arabian Peninsula |
Gobi | Cold Winter | China and Mongolia |
Great Victoria | Subtropical | Australia |
Great Sandy | Subtropical | Australia |
Gibson | Subtropical | Australia |
Simpson | Subtropical | Australia |
Kalahari | Subtropical | South Africa, Botswana, Namibia |
Great Basin | Cold Winter | United States |
Syrian | Subtropical | Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia |
Nafud | sandy | Saudi Arabia |
Hamada | barren, hard rocky plateaus | Saudi Arabia |
Chihuahuan | Subtropical | Mexico |
Colorado | Cold Winter | United States |
Dasht-e Lut | Salt Desert | Iran |
Dasht-e-Kavir | Salt Desert | Iran |
Sonoran | Subtropical | United States, Mexico |
Karakum | Black Sand | Turkmenistan |
Kyzyl-Kum | Cold Winter | Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan |
Taklamakan | Cold Winter | China |
Iranian | Cold Winter | Iran |
Thar | Subtropical | India, Pakistan (Most Populated) |
Mojave | Subtropical | United States |
Atacama | Cool Coastal, driest place | Chile |
Patagonian | Cold Winter (temperate desert) | Argentina |
Namib | Cool Coastal | Angola, Namibia and South Africa |