DesertDB
107 deserts and drylands worldwide with area, type, climate data, and natural history. From the Sahara to Antarctica.
Featured
Sahara
The largest hot desert. Almost as large as the United States. Summer highs regularly excee...
Antarctic Desert
The largest desert on Earth. Receives less than 200 mm precipitation per year. Contains 90...
Death Valley
The hottest place on Earth at 56.7C recorded in 1913. The lowest point in North America at...
Arabian Desert
The largest desert in Asia. Contains the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter), the largest sand de...
Salar de Uyuni
The worlds largest salt flat. Contains 10 billion tons of salt and 50-70% of the worlds li...
Subtropical Deserts (35)
Sahara
The largest hot desert. Almost as large as the United States. Summer highs regularly excee...
Arabian Desert
The largest desert in Asia. Contains the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter), the largest sand de...
Great Victoria Desert
The largest desert in Australia. A sandy desert with grasslands. Indigenous people have li...
Syrian Desert
A combination of steppe and true desert. Palmyra, a UNESCO site, sits in its midst. Bedoui...
Chihuahuan Desert
The largest desert in North America. Has more cactus species than any other desert. The bo...
Karakum Desert
The Darvaza gas crater has been burning since 1971 when Soviet scientists accidentally col...
Sonoran Desert
The most biodiverse desert in the world. The saguaro cactus can live 200 years and grow 15...
Thar Desert
The most densely populated desert in the world. Over 16 million people live here. Jodhpur,...
Mojave Desert
Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth, is here. Joshua trees are unique to this desert....
Dasht-e Kavir
The Great Salt Desert of Iran. The salt crust can be treacherously thin covering mud. Temp...
Dasht-e Lut
Recorded the highest ground temperature on Earth at 70.7C via satellite in 2005. The surfa...
Negev Desert
Means dry land in Hebrew. David Ben-Gurion retired here to make the desert bloom. The Ramo...
Gibson Desert
Named after Alfred Gibson who died exploring it in 1874. Mulga scrubland dominates. The Pi...
Tanami Desert
One of the most remote and inaccessible areas on Earth. The Tanami Track is 1,000 km of di...
Great Sandy Desert
The second largest desert in Australia. Contains the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater, 880 m a...
Sahara detail
The Sahara was green during the African Humid Period 11,000-5,000 years ago. Rock art show...
Death Valley
The hottest place on Earth at 56.7C recorded in 1913. The lowest point in North America at...
Sahara West
The Saharan silver ant forages at surface temperatures up to 70C for only 10 minutes at a ...
Arabian detail
The Arabian oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972 but has been successfully re...
Thar detail
The Indira Gandhi Canal brings Himalayan water 650 km to transform desert into farmland. J...
Mojave detail
The Desert Tortoise can survive a year without drinking water. Creosote bush rings in the ...
Baja Desert
The Baja California peninsula desert. Boojum trees look like upside-down carrots. The card...
Monte Desert
East of the Andes in Argentina. Receives only 50-200 mm of rain. The Andes rain shadow cre...
Gibson detail
The last Aboriginal people to make contact with modern civilization emerged from here in 1...
Little Sandy Desert
South of the Great Sandy Desert. Similar red dune fields. Very remote - no sealed roads cr...
Strzelecki Desert
Named after Polish explorer Paul Strzelecki. Red sand dunes and gibber plains. The Cooper ...
Karakum detail
The Darvaza gas crater has been burning since 1971 after a Soviet drilling accident. Geolo...
Kavir detail
The salt crust hides dangerously soft mud underneath. Caravans historically gave it a wide...
Rajasthan Desert
The Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer are oasis cities. The Rajasth...
Sahara detail 2
The Sahara pumps 27 million tons of dust across the Atlantic to the Amazon each year, fert...
Chihuahuan detail
More than 400 cactus species. The Mexican prairie dog is endangered. The bolsón of Mapimà ...
Libyan Desert
The northeastern part of the Sahara and one of the driest places on Earth. Contains the Gr...
Nubian Desert
Lies east of the Nile between the river and the Red Sea in northeastern Sudan. A rocky san...
Cholistan Desert
An extension of the Thar Desert in southern Punjab, Pakistan. The dry bed of the ancient H...
Colorado Desert
The western subdivision of the Sonoran Desert in southeastern California. Includes the Sal...
Sand Deserts (18)
Wahiba Sands
A relatively small but dramatic sand desert. Dunes reach 100 m. Home to Bedouin tribes. Un...
Empty Quarter
The largest continuous sand desert on Earth. Dunes reach 250 m. One of the most oil-rich a...
Simpson Desert
Known for its parallel red sand dunes, the longest running north-south for 200 km. Rainfal...
White Sands
The largest gypsum dune field in the world. The white sand is rare - gypsum usually dissol...
Sahara Central
The Tenere means desert in Tuareg. One of the hottest and driest parts of the Sahara. A si...
Ulan Buh
A sand desert in Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger Badain Jaran desert system. Sand encro...
Badain Jaran
Contains some of the tallest stationary dunes on Earth, up to about 500 m high. Over 140 s...
Tengger Desert
The Shapotou desert research station pioneered sand fixation techniques used worldwide. Th...
Kumtag Desert
Means sand mountain in Uyghur. Adjacent to the ancient city of Dunhuang. The Crescent Lake...
Rigestan
A sandy desert in southern Afghanistan. Mostly uninhabited. Extreme heat in summer. The He...
Sahara Morocco
The Erg Chebbi dunes near Merzouga are the most accessible Saharan dunes. Dunes reach 150 ...
Great Sand Sea
A vast field of long parallel dunes along the Egypt-Libya border. Libyan desert glass, a n...
An Nafud
A great sand desert in the north of the Arabian Peninsula. Famous for its red dunes colore...
Pinnacles Desert
Thousands of limestone pillars rise from yellow sand in Nambung National Park north of Per...
Carcross Desert
Often called the smallest desert in the world, though too wet to be a true desert. The dun...
Bledow Desert
The largest area of loose sand in Poland, between Krakow and Katowice. Largely created by ...
Oleshky Sands
One of the largest sandy areas in Europe, on the left bank of the lower Dnieper. Ancient r...
Deliblato Sands
The largest sandy terrain in Europe, a remnant of sands left when the prehistoric Pannonia...
Semi-arid Deserts (13)
Kalahari Desert
Not a true desert - receives 250-500 mm of rain but the sand drains instantly. Home to the...
Bardenas Reales
A semi-desert in Navarre, Spain. Moon-like badlands. Used as a bombing range by NATO. Feat...
Tabernas Desert
The only true desert in mainland Europe. The spaghetti westerns were filmed here including...
Monegros
A semi-arid area in Aragon, Spain. Salt lakes attract flamingos. The Monegros Desert Festi...
Registan Desert
A sandy desert in southern Afghanistan. The name means land of sand. Mostly uninhabited. F...
Judaean Desert
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves here. The Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth at ...
Colorado Plateau
Not technically a desert but a semi-arid region containing the Grand Canyon, Monument Vall...
Sahara South
The transition zone between the Sahara and tropical Africa. 12 hectares lost to desertific...
Pedirka Desert
A small desert south of the Simpson. The pedirka means rock in Arabana language. Mulga woo...
Tirari Desert
One of Australias smallest deserts. Salt lakes and sand dunes. The Lake Eyre basin include...
Karoo
Means dry place in Khoikhoi. Divided into Great Karoo and Little Karoo. Rich in fossils - ...
Madagascar spiny desert
A unique spiny forest ecosystem. 95% of plant species are endemic. Baobab trees dot the la...
Tatacoa Desert
The second largest arid zone in Colombia after La Guajira, technically a tropical dry fore...
Cold winter Deserts (10)
Gobi Desert
A cold winter desert. Temperatures range from -40C to 45C. The first dinosaur eggs were di...
Patagonian Desert
The largest desert in South America. A cold winter desert with strong winds. Patagonia was...
Great Basin Desert
The largest desert in the United States. A cold desert due to its elevation. Death Valley ...
Taklamakan Desert
The name may mean place of no return. The second largest shifting sand desert. The Silk Ro...
Akshiqtas
Part of the vast Kazakh semi-desert steppe. Extreme continental climate. The Aral Sea disa...
Kyzylkum
The Red Sand desert. The now-shrunk Aral Sea was at its northwest edge. Gold and uranium a...
Qaidam Basin
A high-altitude desert basin at 2,600-3,000 m. One of the most mineral-rich areas on Earth...
Ustyurt Plateau
A clay and stone desert plateau between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. Bounded on most ...
Gurbantunggut Desert
The second largest desert in China, filling much of the Dzungarian Basin. Mostly fixed and...
Betpak-Dala
A desert plateau in south central Kazakhstan, also called the Northern Hunger Steppe. Lies...
Arid Deserts (10)
Wadi Rum
The Valley of the Moon. Lawrence of Arabia based operations here during the Arab Revolt. S...
Sinai Desert
Where Moses received the Ten Commandments according to tradition. St Catherines Monastery ...
Dhofar
The frankincense trade made this desert region wealthy for 3,000 years. The khareef monsoo...
Petra region
The Nabataeans carved Petra into sandstone cliffs 2,300 years ago. They engineered water s...
Somali Desert
The Chalbi Desert in northern Kenya is a former lake bed. During rare rains it becomes a s...
Gilf Kebir
A remote plateau in southwest Egypt. The Cave of Swimmers has 10,000 year old rock art sho...
Blue Desert
An area near Dahab where rocks are painted blue as a peace monument after the 1973 war. A ...
White Desert
A protected area north of the Farafra oasis known for its white chalk formations. Wind ero...
Aralkum Desert
The youngest desert on Earth, formed on the exposed bed of the shrinking Aral Sea. Soviet ...
Nullarbor Plain
The worlds largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, a flat and almost treeless plain....
Coastal Deserts (8)
Namib Desert
The oldest desert on Earth at 55-80 million years. Its dunes around Sossusvlei are among t...
Atacama Desert
The driest non-polar desert. Some areas have had no recorded rainfall in over 500 years. N...
Sechura Desert
Located between the Andes and the Pacific. The Humboldt Current creates the aridity. Phosp...
Atacama detail
The Chinchorro mummies here are the oldest artificially mummified remains, predating Egypt...
Namib detail
The fairy circles are circular bare patches whose origin is still debated. The desert elep...
Skeleton Coast
Named for the whale bones and shipwrecks along the shore. The Benguela Current creates den...
Kaokoveld Desert
An extension of the Namib into northwest Namibia. The Himba people coat themselves in red ...
Lencois Maranhenses
White sand dunes stretching inland from the Atlantic coast of northeastern Brazil. Not a t...
Volcanic Deserts (4)
Danakil Desert
The hottest place on Earth by year-round average temperature at 34.4C. Contains Dallol, th...
Danakil detail
The Afar people mine salt by hand in 50C heat, cutting blocks from the ancient lake bed. T...
Ethiopian Desert
Lucy, the 3.2 million year old hominid, was found in the Afar region. The Danakil Depressi...
El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013 combining a dormant volcanic field with the larges...
Polar Deserts (3)
Antarctic Desert
The largest desert on Earth. Receives less than 200 mm precipitation per year. Contains 90...
Arctic Desert
The second largest desert. Covers the Arctic islands of Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, and R...
McMurdo Dry Valleys
The largest ice free region of Antarctica. Fierce katabatic winds strip away snow and mois...