Area: 337,000 square kilometers
Taklimakan Desert, located in the center of Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang, is the largest desert in China and the tenth largest desert in the world. The whole desert is located at the boundaries of four regions in Xinjiang: Bayinguoleng, Aksu, Kashgar and Hotan. It is the largest desert in China, so it is called "Taklimakan Desert", and it is also the second largest mobile desert in the world, second only to the Lubuhari Desert in Arabian Peninsula, and the area of quicksand ranks first in the world. The average annual precipitation does not exceed 100 mm, and the lowest is only four or five mm, while the average evaporation is as high as 2500-3400 mm
Here, the pyramid-shaped sand dunes stand 300 meters above the plain, and strong winds can blow up the sand wall, which can reach three times its height. Taklimakan has a splendid history and culture, and the ancient Silk Road runs through the southern tip of Taklimakan. Many archaeological data show that the desert hinterland has been silent for many times. In the Niya River, the Keriya River and the Andiel Valley, the ruins of the ancient cities of Jing, Mi and Cargo, one of the 36 countries in the Western Regions, are little known or unknown so far. On the red and white hills along the Hotan River, the ancient garrison fort built in the Tang Dynasty is still magnificent.
Ninth place: Dasha Desert
Area: 4 1 10,000 square kilometers
Dasha Desert is located in the northern desert zone of Western Australia, mostly in Western Australia. It covers an area of about 465,438+00,000 square kilometers, most of which are sand dunes, except for a rocky desert in the middle. The northern desert of Western Australia, Australia. There are large salt marshes and sand dunes in the vast desert. From southwest to northeast, there are 65,438+0,600 kilometers of animal paths across the desert.
Residents are estimated to be only 250,000, with less than 0.4 people per square kilometer. The vast territory is empty, but as long as barren vegetation can feed livestock or have reliable water sources, scattered people will survive in the most difficult environment and precarious ecological environment in the world.
Eighth place: kalahari desert.
Area: 630,000 square kilometers
Kalahari desert is also translated as kalahari desert, also known as the Kalahari Basin. Dry inland areas of southern Africa. Also known as "Kalahari Basin", it is the main terrain area in south-central Africa. There is an unusual water system in northern kalahari desert. In summer, heavy rain falls on the highlands of central Angola northwest of Kalahari. A large amount of runoff water flows into several streams flowing south, and these streams converge to form Okavango and Kuanduo or River.
American archaeologists have studied some ostrich eggshell beads unearthed in kalahari desert, southern Africa, and found that their age can be traced back to the Stone Age more than 33,000 years ago.
Seventh place: Rubhari Desert
Area: 650,000 square kilometers
Located in the Arabian Peninsula, the Rubhari Desert is the largest mobile desert in the world. The movement of sand dunes is mainly caused by monsoon. Due to the difference of wind direction and mainstream wind, sand dunes in the desert can be divided into three types, namely crescent-shaped sand dunes in the northeast, star-shaped sand dunes in the eastern and southern edges and linear sand dunes in the whole western half.
Generally speaking, it can be divided into two deserts: east and west. Most of the eastern deserts are large sand dunes arranged in parallel, some of which are as high as 300 meters and 20 kilometers long, almost like a sand mountain. Where the groundwater level is high, there are some oases, forming a good pasture. The desert in the west is mostly gravel desert, and marshes and salt lakes are widely distributed between sand dunes. The whole desert is a typical tropical desert climate.
The average monthly temperature in the hottest summer in Central China reaches 70 ~ 80℃ during the day and drops to 30℃ at night. In winter, the temperature in Leng Yue is above 40℃, and the annual average precipitation is less than 50 mm, and the interval between two precipitations in many areas is as long as several years.
Sixth place: Patagonia Desert
Area: 673,000 square kilometers
Patagonia includes almost all the land in southern Argentina and consists of vast grasslands and deserts.
Paleontologists announced the discovery of a giant skeleton fossil of a herbivorous dinosaur in northern Patagonia, Argentina. It is 32 meters long and is one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. Prior to this, the province also found two other dinosaur fossils famous for their size. Patagonia has become the most popular archaeological site, because Cretaceous dinosaur fossils can be found there.
Fifth place: Gobi Desert
Area: 65438+300,000 square kilometers
Gobi Desert covers an area of 6.5438+0.3 million square kilometers and lies between China and Mongolia. It is the northernmost desert in the world, the largest in Asia and the fifth largest in the world. The extreme temperature in this desert can drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius or even minus 30 degrees Celsius in winter. In the hottest summer, it can rise above 40 degrees Celsius.
When the ancient Silk Road extends along the northern and western edges of the Taklimakan Desert, it passes through the southern part of the Alashan Desert and the Gashun Gobi. In13rd century, through the vivid description of Kyle Poirot, Gobi was first known to Europeans. Besides, they have never really known this area and have never been there.
The most interesting places in Gobi are Buddhist caves and temples near Dunhuang, China. These temples were built in the 4th ~10th century, and they are well preserved in the dry air of the desert, among which the quality and quantity of murals and documents are unparalleled. The scientific research on this complex began in 1907 when ohrel Stein, a Hungarian-born British archaeologist and geographer, discovered the Thousand Buddha Cave. Gobi also excavated a large number of dinosaur fossils, which is also an important content of studying Cretaceous dinosaurs.
Fourth place: Australian desert
Area: 65438+550,000 square kilometers
The Australian desert is the largest desert in Australia and the fourth largest desert in the world. It consists of Dasha Desert, Victoria Desert, Gibson Desert and Simpson Desert.
The Australian desert is located in the southwest of Australia, accounting for more than 1/5 of Australia's land area. There is little rain here, and the drought is abnormal. The highest temperature in summer can reach 50 degrees Celsius. Because there are no tall trees to stop it, the wind roars all day in this desert. Anyone would think that this is a land of death, but in 1973, an Australian botanist named flannery found that there were about 3,600 kinds of plants thriving in this desert while traveling by motorcycle.
Ayers Rock is the first choice to appreciate the mystery of the Northern Territory. The name of this area comes from a stone called Uluru. This stone is the largest boulder in the world at present. Because it is endowed with the meaning of totem by the aborigines, it is praised by the locals as a symbol of the heart of Australia.
Third place: Libyan desert
Area: 65438+690,000 square kilometers
The Libyan desert is located in the northeast of the Sahara desert, including the central and western Egypt and the eastern Libya. It is a plateau sloping from south to north, with the highest terrain in the southwest.
There are rocky plateaus and rocky or sandy plains in the desert, and the climate is dry and uninhabitable. Oasis is an island in the sand sea, where you can rest or stay for a long time when crossing the desert. The main oases in the Libyan desert are Siwa Oasis, Baihariya Oasis, Farafra Oasis, Dalai Oasis and El Harij Oasis, which are connected by a Z-shaped path on the map of Egypt. The most beautiful oases are the three oases in the north, namely Siwa Oasis, Baiharia Oasis and Farafra Oasis, which are more "desolate" than the other two oases, and are called Dalai Oasis and El Harij Oasis in the New Valley.
Second place: Arabian desert
Area: 2.33 million square kilometers
The Arabian Desert, the second largest desert in the world, is located on the eastern edge of the Sahara Desert in North Africa, and most of it is gravel desert and exposed rock mounds.
Located on the edge of the Arabian desert, the ancient city of Petra was once the capital of Nabatai dynasty and an ancient historical city in southern Jordan, hidden in the canyon between the Dead Sea and Akbar Bay (in Jordan). It is one of the mysterious ancient cities in the desert of southern Jordan and one of the most famous historical sites in Jordan. Petra is located on a dry mountain, almost entirely carved with rocks.
First place: Sahara desert
Area: 9.065 million square kilometers
The Sahara desert was formed about 2.5 million years ago. It is the second largest desert in the world and the largest desert in the world. The climatic conditions are extremely bad, which is one of the most unsuitable places for biological growth on earth.
The climate in the Sahara desert is hot and dry. However, it is puzzling that there was a prosperous ancient civilization in this extremely arid and water-deficient mining area with cracked land and few plants. Many exquisite large-scale murals in the desert are the crystallization of this ancient civilization.