When thinking of deserts, the mind often conjures up images of arid, barren, and desolate landscapes, full of yellow sand and no grass. However, upon actually visiting a desert, one may find that the reality of the landscape is quite different from these preconceptions.
Located in the holy city of Medina, the Noble Quran Oasis is a modern oasis in the desert, designed to take advantage of the topography of the dry streams.
The landscape design reflects the essence of classical Arabian gardens, and the oasis serves as a peaceful respite from the hot and dry earth that surrounds Medina.
The Great Sandy Desert is located in the Northern Belt of the Western Desert of Australia, primarily in Western Australia. This vast desert covers an area of about 410,000 square kilometers and is mostly composed of sand dunes, with only rocky deserts in the center.
Large salt marshes and sand dunes make up the northern desert of Western Australia, and there are 1,600 kilometers of cattle tracks running through the desert. The sparse population of the area survives on the barren vegetation that can support livestock and a reliable water source, making it one of the world's most difficult environments and precarious ecologies.
The Rubhali Desert, located in the Arabian Peninsula, is the largest mobile desert in the world.
The monsoon mainly causes the movement of its dunes, and due to differences in wind direction and prevailing winds, the desert's dunes are divided into three zones: the crescent-shaped dune zone in the northeast, the star-shaped dune zone in the eastern and southern edges, and the linear dune zone throughout the western half of the desert.
The eastern desert mainly consists of large dunes arranged in parallel, while the western desert is mostly a gravel desert with marshes and salt lakes widely spread among the dunes.
The Mojave Desert is a unique landscape where extreme heat and minimal rainfall prolong the time it takes for the land to recover from anthropogenic disturbances.
Visitors to Red Rock Canyon can experience the desert landscape firsthand, with a visitor center that emphasizes the specificity of the Red Rock Canyon itself rather than relying on realistic simulations and imitations of pseudo-natural scenes.
The Patagonia region encompasses almost all of the southern part of mainland Argentina and consists of vast grasslands and deserts. Palaeontologists have discovered giant fossilized skeletons of herbivorous dinosaurs in the region, with one reaching a length of 32 meters, making it one of the largest dinosaurs ever found.
Patagonia is a popular archaeological site for dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous era.
Deserts also play a crucial role in the global ecosystem, as they cover around one-third of the Earth's land surface and are home to many unique species of plants and animals adapted to survive in harsh and arid conditions.
However, desertification caused by climate change, overgrazing, and human activities poses a significant threat to these fragile ecosystems.
While deserts may be associated with desolation and barrenness, they are incredibly diverse and unique landscapes. From modern oases to mobile deserts and vast grasslands, each desert has its own distinct features and history that make them worth exploring.
