Talk:Desert

Old comments

Aren't certain glaciated areas also deserts? Parts of Antarctica, etc? – Zork

Yes. The Gobi in China is also very cold, so temperature is not a requirement for being a desert, only precipitation.--BlackGriffen

The Gobi is in Mongolia. – Ortchel

• In Antartica there are "dry valleys" that have no snow and are almost permanently frozen. I believe that they are some of the driest places on earth. I also understood that almost all of Antartica was a desert because there is very little precipitation as the air is too cold to hold moisture and there is no free water because it is all frozen as snow and ice. The only reason there is a lot of snow and ice there is because none of it melts. Can anyone confirm this? – kiwiinapanic 13:27 23 May 2003 (UTC)

Perhaps we should make limitations on the persistantcy of h20 not 2 exist, while it may not percipitate in antartica, there is certantly a considerable amount of ice ~ Xzilalnx2

Another type of desert not listed occurs when the soil is too acidic or otherwise incapable of growing plants. The small Rangipo Desert in New Zealand is one example, where the presence of three active ash volcanos has made the soil incapable of producing any vegetation other than thin scrub. Does this type of desert have a name, and shouldn't it be listed here? Grutness talk 12:47, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There are other places where soils deter plant growth where a desert climate doesn't prevail; ultramafic soils can create low shrublands or heathlands, as can thin acidic peat soils, as can lava beds and rock outcrops. I don't know that, as defined here, these areas are really deserts.Tom Radulovich 06:02, 16 Apr 2010 (UTC)

It would be a nice deserts. ~ Eirik

We are discussing hydrological deserts.

1. Deserts that result from some cause other than climate – let us say chemical poisoning (should pollution get that bad), volcanic activity, or some reverse-oasis effect (a place in an otherwise lush area except for a near-surface limestone formation or a sandstone escarpment) aren't true deserts.

I have seen areas in Dallas, Texas (not quite in a dry belt) in which the combination of pollution and a near-surface limestone escarpment that prevents tree growth creating a desert-like terrain.

2. Polar areas should not be considered hydrological deserts unless they have stereotypical phenomena of deserts of lower latitudes. Such places may get little precipitation, but they also have evaporation low enough to allow water-logged soils.

Note that the dry valleys of Antarctica are not only free of glacial ice but have the salt lakes that one might expect in a classic desert – except that the salt lakes are iced over. Those dry valleys are hydrological deserts as well as places of extreme cold.

3. Temperature ranges are often severe because of the low humidity (and hence low dew points) that allow a low "floor" for night-time cooling. This does not apply in coastal deserts in which humidity is high but precipitation events are rare enough to create deserts (the Atacama). But it applies in the Gobi and the Sahara. Some inland areas at the same latitude as Havana in the Sahara get frosts even at low altitudes. The Gobi of course gets severe cold by mid-latitude standards.

An aside: the Romans learned to make ice by exploiting the night-time cooling within what is now Libya. Water or some other liquid (cream also works, hence ice cream) is covered by day, but exposed at night. The liquid freezes over several days as the liquid gets little of the warmth of the sun but is exposed to the full cooling of a cloudless night of low humidity. The ice could then be shipped to Rome for an Imperial treat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul from Michigan (talk • contribs) 08:07, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Canadian deserts

• According to its article, Osoyoos, British Columbia is the only desert in Canada. Do any of you "desert experts" know if this is true and/or if some other extremely dry parts of British Columbia or possibly Alberta or even the Canadian Arctic might also qualify? --Ds13 16:36, 2005 Apr 17 (UTC)

Any such "deserts" are simply steppes. Should some small biome in British Columbia "qualify" as BWk or especially BWh, then that biome is best considered the result of a microclimate.--Paul from Michigan 07:45, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

landforms

I would like to know shut up bitch deserts are importent. What is their relationship to other environments near by, and how , if at all, do they benifit these other environments.

Sand storms that pick up sediment from deserts can be a significant source of nutrients for other, more vegetated areas. The Amazon is quite nutrient-poor and benefits from sand storms from the Sahara. Daniel Collins 02:46, 15 March 2006 (UTC).

question

I would like to know some biotic and abiotic factors of a dry/ hot desert, and some ecological concerns and issues---Mac

I don't know about ecological concerns and issues, but I know that animals such as camels, lizards, etc. are biotic factors, and things like rocks, sand , and water are abiotic factors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Man united321 (talk • contribs)

Correct ~ Eirik

arid

Currently, arid redirects to this page. However, the term is not defined anywhere. This should be either defined here or on the arid page. Common Man 01:29, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

I even didn't notice. Arid should have its own page. Aridity is a measure of the relative amount of annual precipitation to evaporative demand, whereas a desert is merely designated based on the amount of precipitation. Antarctica, while a desert, is not arid. Daniel Collins 02:50, 15 March 2006 (UTC).

Click on over to arid and give it a downpouring of content, if y'all feel so inclined. Daniel Collins 23:15, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Percentage of earth covered by deserts

This should be covered in the article. --Liface 08:02, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Why are deserts where they are? - it has something to do with cold water, but what is it?

Link needed in desert paragraph

In the first section called Desert, there is a bit where it talks about the terrain (Para 2 or 3 I think). It is missing a link for Reg, and I think this would help if I were a reader (which I am). Something should be done, don't you think?

Trivia

I think the trivia section is too small, and just looks tacky. Should it be removed?

Yes

Vandalism

I removed the anime references I found in this article. I would have reverted it but it had been edited since the vandalism. I wish people would read an article before adding to it. Maybe someone more qualified can go over the article more thoroughly. 翔太 ^{「Shouta:talk」} 07:09, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Temperature

500 degrees celsius temperatures? Please tell me someone did that on purpose.

Etymology

I deleted the reference to ancient Egyptian origins for the Latin word "desertum" (not "deserta"), which according to dictionary etymologies is the past participle of the Latin verb "deserere", to abandon or desert. This in turn is related to the word "serere", which has deep roots in Latin. This etymology is much more plausible than the ancient Egyptian derivation previously given, which lacked references, so I have replaced it with an explanation of the Latin word. Marco polo 21:22, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Yet there remains a claim that the Latin word is derived from the Egyptian, which I find deeply problematic. Any such claim would require substantial evidence, because that's something that, as a rule, doesn't happen. Tsunomaru (talk) 00:25, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

In the article on Egypt, the etymological derivation is given as from old Egyptian deshret (red earth). Both articles should be consistent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Marthahout (talk • contribs) 14:27, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Vandalism

I removed some slang and obscene references to inappropriate material from the first paragraph and the third or fourth. Duran7 23:52, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Etymology

In the article on Egypt, the etymological derivation is given as from old Egyptian deshret (red earth). Both articles should be consistent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Marthahout (talk • contribs) 14:25, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

High desert?

Currently high desert redirects to this article, while High Desert is a disambiguation page. (I plan to move "High Desert" to "high desert"). In Oregon we have the High Desert Museum and it is definitely treated like a separate type of desert. Anyone have enough knowledge to add a section on high desert to the desert types section? Katr67 17:47, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Russian/polish

I removed the following phrase as this is English wikipedia; having the etymology for the word in other languages seems a bit iffy, but I could possibly see this fitting into the article somewhere if it was worded a bit differently. Thoughts?:

This word originally meant "abandoned place". Polish (pustynia) and Russian (пустыня) meaning of the word is similar and refers to emptyness, void.

WLU 18:40, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Where section went wrong

I found out where the types of desert section went wrong (here), I'll try to correct it. WLU 22:07, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

A user pasted a large amount of plagiarized text from this page, including a word from the previous section accidentally. Since the text does not actually refer to deserts at all, I'm removing it completely. It's AGF gone awry! WLU 22:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

OK, I think I've removed all of the vandalism, info dumps, while keeping the useful text that was put in in between. WLU 22:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

12 Consecutive Months Without Rain

That's what it says for Extremely Arid. That can't be right. I know it's statistically possible, but I don't think it's correct (And I haven't got the book in front of me, naturally).Elijahmeeks 16:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

That's what the reference says. 199.125.109.35 04:39, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Template:Deserts

I'm working on a re-write of the desert template here. I'd appreciate some assistance. Just fix it yourself or leave a comment on the page below the template. Thanks. :) vıdıoman (talk • contribs) 03:33, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Đurđevački pijesci

This Croatian mini-desert isn't listed at the bottom of the page. Someone has to change that. MR.CRO95 (talk) 16:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

There doesn't appear to be an article for the Croatian Mini-Desert... When you make one, you can add it here under "Europe".

Vandalism - rampant ?

Are the any objections if I nominate this article for semi-protection? There seems to be on going consistent IP vandalism. Ronnam (talk) 07:09, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

By all means, please do so! The amount of vandalism this article receives is absurd. vıdıoman 20:33, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Continuity

The list of biggest deserts on this page and the list on List of deserts by area are different. Can someone who has some degree of knowledge and access to sources on the subject (i have not) sort out these lists so that they are the same on wikipedia. ----Greatestrowerever^{Talk Page} 23:05, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, and I've put contradict-other templates on both articles. I suggest that any discussion take place on the List of deserts by area talk page to keep everything in one place. Dricherby (talk) 13:11, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Desert

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Desert's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "nyt":

• From Israel: Erlanger, Steven (2007-08-17). "Israel to Get $30 Billion in Military Aid From U.S.". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 
• From Nefud: Wright, John W. (ed.); Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. pp. 67. ISBN 0-14-303820-6. 
• From Chihuahuan Desert: Wright, John W. (ed.); Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. pp. 456. ISBN 0-14-303820-6. 
• From Dasht-e Lut: Wright, John W. (ed.) (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. pp. 456. ISBN 978-0-14-303820-7. 
• From Gobi Desert: Wright, John W. (ed.); Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. pp. 456. ISBN 0-14-303820-6. 

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 04:42, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Thar Desert

The article on the Thar Desert claims that it's the seventh largest desert in the world. That contradicts this article. 68.104.189.211 (talk) 16:41, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Proposal

A proposal has been made for a Desert WikiProject. mynameinc 18:54, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

classification

perhaps that instead of cold and hot deserts, the deserts could be classified by their texture (eg sanddesert, rock desert, ...) the terms arabian desert, ... are quite confusing —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.182.193.143 (talk) 16:28, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Formation of hot deserts

Formation of hot deserts part needs some work. 72.25.192.4 (talk) 16:38, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

What is the purpose of the Terminology section?

Currently, the Terminology section has only two sentences, the first seems like it belongs in the Definition section, and the second, I think, would make a nice closing statement to the lead section. If the article needs a Terminology section, then what information should it have that would not be in the Etymology, Definiton, or Classification sections? As a reader myself, I would expect it to have various terms related to deserts: Dune, Erg, Chaparral, Succulent, etc., but these (or some of them) are already in the Desert Features section. I would propose to move the two sentences currently in Terminology and get rid of the Terminology section header.--Brambleshire (talk) 18:17, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Arctic

Why is the Arctic included in the list of deserts, given that it is wholly (or, at least, mostly) ocean rather than land? Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:11, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Silence. I propose removing the Arctic from the list of deserts, and will do so in the next few days unless there is any objection here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:36, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Done. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:06, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I completely agree that "Arctic" does not belong here. But Greenland might qualify as a (substantially smaller, but still large) desert, depending on its precipitation levels. --Roentgenium111 (talk) 22:02, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree. The problem is that the whole table - and most of that section - is completely unreferenced, and we need reliable sources. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:40, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I saw that my edit was reverted. Whatever you decide guys, you should synchronize the information with some other pages - List of deserts by area and List of deserts. Since a lot of the sister projects are dependent on your decision, I suggest a careful editing. What do you think about the source for the Artics, stated in List of deserts by area - [1] - you did not like it or you did not check it? BloodIce (talk) 18:31, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

File:Al-Dahna.jpg Nominated for Deletion

An image used in this article, File:Al-Dahna.jpg, has been nominated for deletion at Wikimedia Commons in the following category: Deletion requests August 2011 What should I do? Don't panic; a discussion will now take place over on Commons about whether to remove the file. This gives you an opportunity to contest the deletion, although please review Commons guidelines before doing so. If the image is non-free then you may need to upload it to Wikipedia (Commons does not allow fair use) If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale then it cannot be uploaded or used. This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 21:48, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Commented on the deletion page, it is a NASA image, source is here. Mikenorton (talk)

World's largest deserts

This page refers to the Sahara as the second largest desert after the Antarctic desert. However the "sahara" page of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara) stipulates that the Sahara is the third largest desert (after Antarctic and Arctic) with significantly different data. This assertion is linked to a hyperlink (http://geology.com/records/largest-desert.shtml). I understand that the size of the Arctic varies throughout the year and is decreasing overall but this seems like a coherence issue. 157.150.192.237 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:23, 27 January 2012 (UTC).

The Arctic is mostly sea rather than land, and there is an inconsistency between articles (and sources) over how that is addressed. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:28, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Lack of Refences

this srticle needs Refimprove template and many sections need Unreferenced section template, but it's locked so i can't edit it. the refencing is so inadequate in this article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.196.176.212 (talk) 13:15, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Sign up for a wikipedia account, make some edits, and you'll be allowed to improve it. Remember, blogs cannot be used as references. They are not reliable sources for encyclopedaic information. Thegreatdr (talk) 00:10, 25 February 2012 (UTC)