The hot deserts
Deserts are arid lands. There is very little rainfall. It is very hot during the day and very cold at night. There is very little water, there is hardly any vegetation. In the some places xerophytes, like the cactus, can be seen.
Xerophytes are plants that can survive in hot dry weather.
The hot deserts are normally found between latitudes 20 – 30 cilices degree north and south of the equator. They lie in the high pressure belts along the topic of cancer and the tropic Capricorn. They are generally found along the western margin of continents.
North America – Arizona, Lower California
Central; America – Mexico
South America – Atacama desert
Africa – sahara, kalahari and namib
Asia – Arabian, Gobi and Thar Desert
Australia – the great Australian desert
The temperature is very high; the skies are very clear with practically no clouds. Rainfall is almost least. Humidity is very low. The rate of evaporation is very high. Deserts are sandy. They absorb the heat rapidly. So during the day the temperature can go up to 50cilces degree at night, as there no clouds, the heat is lost rapidly. So the nights are very cold. So there is a wide range of temperature in the deserts.
Humidity is moisture or water in the air.
No trees grow in the deserts. Only shrubs and small plants grow here. They have adapted to the dry climate. The cactus has small roots but is sucks water and stores it in its body. In some places, like the sonorant desert of North America, the cactus is quite too tall.
*Farming in Rajasthan is very difficult because there is not enough water. Wheat is sown where canals bring water to the fields. Very little rice is planted as the fields cannot be flooded. But most farmers grow bajra and jawar. These crops need little water and can grow even in poor soils. Some other crops are dal, Mustard seed, ground –nuts, cotton and sugar-cane.
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