Physical Features of the Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert is one of the most imposing and well-known deserts on the planet. To truly understand it, on has to understand the physical features of the Sahara Desert.
Physical Features of the Sahara Desert
Of the many types of land formations on Earth, deserts are some of the most interesting. Their dry climate, mixed with the mystique of the animals and plants that manage to survive in this weather, make deserts both feared and revered. Perhaps the most interesting desert area is the Sahara Desert, located on the continent of Africa. The Sahara is the world's largest “hot desert” (as opposed to a cold desert which can be covered with snow) and the physical features of the Sahara Desert are what really make it different from the other desert areas.
One of the most important physical features of the Sahara Desert is its size. The Sahara is over 3,500,000 square miles in size, which means it is almost as big as the United States. This desert, though large and dry, is bordered by much water; the Atlantic Ocean borders the western side, the Mediterranean Sea is on the northern border, and the Red Sea is on the eastern border of the Sahara. The Sahara was not always as dry as it is today – after the last ice age, the area was much wetter than it is now. Fossils of dinosaurs have been found in the area, and there is evidence that there was much more vegetation in the desert at one point.
Most of the physical features of the Sahara Desert are made up of hamada, a type of rocky plateau which is not at all the loose and fluid sandy ground that people tend to picture when they think of deserts. There are relatively few ergs, or large sand dunes, in the Sahara. The Sahara Desert is used as a divider for the continent of Africa; this makes up the two parts of Africa, the North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Directly to the south of the Sahara is a savanna (semiarid) that is called the Sahel – this area bridges the land between the dry desert and the wet and lush Congo River Basin.
The physical features of the Sahara Desert have changed greatly over time. Originally, before and during the last ice age, the Sahara was larger and just as dry as it is now. By the end of the ice age, the area of the Sahara had shrunk and become wetter, but by 2500 BC, the monsoons (caused by changes in pressure and melting of ice sheets from the ice age) retreated. The Sahara Desert returned to its dry, inhospitable climate, and it remains that way today.
