On the tropics of Cancer and Caoricorn, the Sub tropical regions of the lovely planet lie. These regions have the hottest deserts located in Asia, Australia, Africa and North America. Usually, they are called as Sub tropical deserts that have very hot and dry climate with sandy, coarse or rocky soil. The average annual rainfall in the Sub tropical deserts is not more than 50 cm (19″) and usually totals less than 25 cm (10″). We can hardly found the vegetation in abundance, however, in some parts of the Sub tropical deserts, grasses and herbaceous plants, deciduous or evergreen broadleaf trees, or a mix may grow in patches.
These are the images of the lovely Sub tropical deserts of the lovely planet ;
1- The Great Sahara Desert
Sahara Desert: Image by Andrew Galea Debono
The Sahara Desert is located in the large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. The Sahara is the largest desert on the African continent. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical Savanna that composes the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.
2- The Arabian Desert
The Arabian desert ( Image : Romy Alcoriza )
The Arabian Desert is located in the Western Asia. It is a huge desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 sq mi). The climate is extremely dry, and temperatures oscillate between extreme heat and seasonal night time freezes.
3- The Kalahari Desert
Kalahari desert of Africa ( Image : Jaffles )
The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in the southern Kgalagadi Africa extending 900,000 km² (362,500 sq. mi.) The Kalahari is mostly flat, with an average elevation of about 1,000 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The sands of the Kalahari are red, brown, or white in places. The only permanent surface water in or around the Kalahari is the Boteti River.
4- The Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert of Australia
The Great Victoria Desert of Australia is the largest Australian desert. Its area is almost 424,400 km2 (163,900 miles2). This is one of the largest deserts of the lovely planet which extends from the Eastern Goldfields area in Western Australia across the southern parts of central Australia to the Stuart and Gawler Ranges in South Australia.
5- The Syrian Desert
The Syrian desert ( Image: Glenn Livett and Isla Malte )
The Syrian Desert is also known as the Syro-Arabian desert which is a combination of steppe and true desert that is located in the northern Arabian Peninsula covering 200,000 square miles (over 500,000 square kilometers). The desert is very rocky and flat. The Syrian Desert is part of the Al-Hamad, which covers portions of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The desert’s remarkable landscape was formed by lava flows from the volcanic region of the Jebel Druze, in southern Syria.
6- The Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( Image: Gary Nored )
The Chihuahuan Desert is the easternmost, southernmost, and largest North American desert. Most of it is located in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico, but fingers of the Chihuahuan reach up into western Arizona, southern New Mexico, and Texas, and down to the states of Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi in Mexico. This desert is quite large – about 175,000 square miles – making it bigger than the entire state of California.
7- The Great Sandy Desert
The Great Sandy Desert ( Image : Mark Maupin )
The Great Sandy Desert is the second largest desert in Australia. It is in the north of Western Australia. It is flat, hot and mostly dry, but some rain falls in the desert when the monsoons cross the north of Australia from September to April (a monsoon bring rain and thunderstorms). In winter, it gets very cold at night. There are open grasslands, mainly spinifix, with some trees.
8- The Sonoran Desert
Sonoran desert ( Image: Mackison )
The Sonoran Desert is an arid region covering 120,000 square miles in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, as well as most of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora, Mexico. Subdivisions of this hot, dry region include the Colorado and Yuma deserts. This is the hottest in North America, but a distinctly bimodal rainfall pattern produces a reasonable biological diversity.
9- Thar Desert
An image of Thar desert ( Alexander Pappas )
Thar is the largest Desert Of India & Pakistan. Thar lies mostly in the Indian State of Rajasthan, and extends into the northern portion of Haryana and Punjab states and into southern Gujarat state. In Pakistan, the desert covers eastern Sindh province and the southeastern portion of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Cholistan Desert adjoins the Thar Desert spreading into Pakistani Punjab province. Stretches of sand in the desert are interspersed by hillocks and sandy and gravel plains. Due to the diversified habitat and ecosystem, the vegetation, human culture and animal life in this arid region is very rich in contrast to the other deserts of the world.
10- Gibson Desert
An image of the Gibson Desert by Steve Strike
The Gibson Desert covers a large dry area in the state of Western Australia and is still largely in an almost “pristine” state. It is about 155,000 square kilometres (60,000 square miles) in size, making it the 5th largest desert in Australia, after the Great Sandy, Great Victoria, Tanami and Simpson deserts. In much of the region, especially the drier western portion, the majority of people living in the area are aboriginal Australians.
11- Simpson Desert
A view from the Simpson desert by John Benwell
The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia.It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km² (68,100 sq mi). The sand is predominately made up of quartzgrains. The grains are rounded and sub angular. They range size from 0.05mm to 1.2mm with 0.5mm being the average size for the crests and 0.3 being the average size on the dune flanks.
12- Mojave Desert
An image of the Mojave Desert by Kathy
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of Southern California and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Named after the Mohave Native Americans it occupies roughly 54,000 square miles in a typical Basin and Range topography. The Mojave, like all deserts in general, is known for its summer heat, however, there is wintertime cold. Snow, although uncommon, does fall in parts of the Mojave. The Mojave Desert receives less than 6 inches of rain a year and is generally between 3,000 and 6,000 feet in elevation.