Environmental Geology / 4th Stage Dr.

Kareem Khwedim

Deserts and Desertification

Many of the features of wind erosion and deposition are most readily
observed in deserts. Deserts can be defined in a variety of ways. A desert
may be defined as a region with so little vegetation that only a limited
population (human or animal) can be supported on that land. It need not
be hot or even, dry. Ice sheets are a kind of desert with plenty of water
but not liquid. In more temperate climates, deserts are characterized by
very little precipitation, commonly less than 10 centimeters a year, but
they may be consistently hot, cold, or variable in temperature depending
on the season or time of day.

Causes of Natural Deserts

A variety of factors contribute to the formation of a desert, so deserts
come in several different types, depending on their origins. One factor is
moderately high surface temperatures. Most vegetation, under such
conditions, requires abundant rainfall and/or slow evaporation of what
precipitation does fall. The availability of precipitation is governed by the
global air-circulation patterns. Warm air holds more moisture than cold.
Similarly, when the pressure on a mass of air is increased, the air can hold
more moisture. Saturated warm air rises at the equator and spreads
outward. Air pressure and temperature both decrease with increasing
altitude, so as the air rises and cools, it must dump much of its moisture,
producing the heavy downpours common in the tropics. When that air
then circulates downward, at about 30 degrees north and south latitudes,
it is warmed as it approaches the surface, and also subjected to increasing
pressure from the deepening column of air above it. It can then hold
considerably more water, so when it reaches the earth’s surface, it causes
rapid evaporation. Note in figure 9.26 that many of the world’s major
deserts fall in belts close to these zones of sinking air at 30 degrees north
and south of the equator. These are the subtropical- latitude deserts.
Topography also plays a role in controlling the distribution of
precipitation. A high mountain range along the path of principal air
currents between the ocean and a desert area may be the cause of the
latter’s dryness. As moisture-laden air from over the ocean moves inland
across the mountains, it is forced to higher altitudes, where the
temperatures are colder and the air thinner (lower pressure). Under these
conditions, much of the moisture originally in the air mass is forced out
as precipitation, and the air is much drier when it moves farther inland
and down out of the mountains. In effect, the mountains cast a rain
shadow on the land beyond ( figure 9.27 ). Rain shadows cast by the
Sierra Nevada of California and, to a lesser extent, by the southern

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Environmental Geology / 4th Stage Dr. Kareem Khwedim

Rockies contribute to the dryness and desert regions of the western

United States.
Because the oceans are the major source of the moisture in the air,
distance from the ocean (in the direction of air movement) can by itself
be a factor contributing to the formation of a desert. The longer an air
mass is in transit over dry land, the greater chance it has of losing some of
its moisture through precipitation. This contributes to the development of
deserts in continental interiors. On the other hand, even coastal areas can
have deserts under special circumstances. If the land is hot and the
adjacent ocean cooled by cold currents, the moist air coming off the
ocean will be cool and carry less moisture than air over a warmer ocean.
As that cooler air warms over the land and becomes capable of holding
still more moisture, it causes rapid evaporation from the land rather than
precipitation. This phenomenon is observed along portions of the western
coasts of Africa and South America.
Polar deserts can also be attributed to the differences in moisture-holding
capacity between warm and cold air: Air traveling from warmer latitudes
to colder near polar ones will tend to lose moisture by precipitation, so
less remains to fall as snow near the poles, and the limited evaporation
from cold high-latitude oceans contributes little additional moisture to
enhance local precipitation. Thick polar ice caps, reflect effective
preservation of what snow does fall, rather than heavy precipitation.

Desertification
Climatic zones shift over time. In addition, topography changes, global
temperatures change, and plate motions move landmasses to different
latitudes. A mid these changes, new deserts develop in areas that
previously had more extensive vegetative cover. The term desertification
is generally restricted to apply only to the relatively rapid development of
deserts caused by the impact of human activities.
The exact definition of the lands at risk is difficult. Arid lands are
commonly defined as those with annual rainfall of less than 250
millimeters; semiarid lands, 250 to 500 millimeters; and extremely arid
lands, those areas that may have at least 12 months without rainfall. The
extent to which vegetation will thrive in low-precipitation areas also
depends on such additional factors as temperature and local evaporation
rates. Many of the arid lands border true desert regions. Desertification
does not involve the advance or expansion of desert regions as a result of
forces originating within the desert. Rather, desertification is a partly
conversion of dry-but-habitable land to uninhabitable desert as a
consequence of land-use practices (perhaps accelerated by such natural
factors as drought).

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Environmental Geology / 4th Stage Dr. Kareem Khwedim

Causes of desertification:

Vegetation in dry lands is, by nature, limited. At the same time, it is a

precious resource, which may in various cases provide food for people or
for livestock, wood for shelter or energy, and protection from erosion for
the soil. Desertification typically involves severe disturbance of that
vegetation.
On land used for farming, native vegetation is routinely cleared to make
way for crops. While the crops thrive, all may be well. If the crops fail, or
if the land is left unplanted for a time, several consequences follow. One,
is erosion. A second, linked to the first, is loss of soil fertility. The
topmost soil layer, richest in organic matter, is most nutrient-rich and also
is the first lost to erosion. A third result may be loss of soil structural
quality. Under the baking sun typical of many dry lands, and with no
plant roots to break it up, the soil may crust over, becoming less
permeable. This increases surface runoff, correspondingly decreasing
infiltration by what limited precipitation does fall. That, in turn, decreases
reserves of soil moisture and ground water on which future crops may
depend. All of these changes together make it that much harder for future
crops to succeed, and the problems intensify.
Similar results follow from the raising of numerous livestock on the dry
lands. In drier periods, vegetation may be reduced or stunted. Yet it is
precisely during those periods that livestock, needing the vegetation not
only for food but also for the moisture it contains, put the greatest grazing
pressure on the land. The soil may again be stripped bare, with the
resultant deterioration and reduced future growth of vegetation as
previously described for cropland.
Natural drought cycles thus play a role in desertification. However, in the
absence of intensive human land use, the degradation of the land during
drought is typically less severe, and the natural systems in the arid lands
can recover when the drought ends. On a human timescale, desertification
permanent conversion of marginal dry lands to desert is generally
observed only where human activities are also significant.

Global Impact of Desertification:

Desertification is cause for concern because it effectively reduces the

amount of arable (cultivatable) land on which the world depends for food.
An estimated 600 million people worldwide now live on the arid lands;
by recent UN definition, close to 40% of the world’s land surface is
“drylands,” and that excludes the true deserts. All of those lands, in some
measure, are potentially vulnerable to desertification. More than 10% of
those 600 million people live in areas identified as actively undergoing
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desertification now; overall, up to 70% of the drylands are undergoing

significant degradation. Some projections suggest that, early in the
twenty-first century, one-third of the world’s once-arable land will be
rendered useless for the culture of food crops as a consequence of
desertification and attendant soil deterioration. The recent famine in
Ethiopia may have been precipitated by a drought, but it has been
prolonged by desertification brought on by overuse of land incapable of
supporting concentrated human or animal populations.

Questions for Review

1-What is desertification? Describe two ways in which human activities

contribute to the process.
2-What are the causes of Natural Deserts ?

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Environmental Geology / 4th Stage Dr. Kareem Khwedim