List of deserts by area
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This is the list of the largest deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts above 50,000 square kilometres (19,300 sq mi).
Some of Earth's biggest deserts
| Rank | Name | Type | Image | Area (km²) |
Area (sq mi) |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antarctica | Polar ice and tundra |  |
14,000,000 | 5,500,000 | Antarctica |
| 2 | Arctic | Polar ice and tundra | 13,985,000 | 5,400,000 | Arctic (Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden) | |
| 3 | Sahara | Subtropical |  |
9,000,000+ | 3,300,000+ | North Africa (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia) |
| 4 | Australian Desert | Subtropical |  |
2,700,000 | 1,000,000 | Australia |
| 5 | Arabian Desert | Subtropical |  |
2,330,000[1] | 900,000 | Western Asia (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) |
| 6 | Gobi Desert | Cold Winter |  |
1,295,000 | 500,000 | East Asia (China and Mongolia) |
| 7 | Kalahari Desert | Subtropical |  |
900,000[2] | 360,000 | Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) |
| 8 | Patagonian Desert | Cold Winter |  |
620,000 | 200,000 | South America (Argentina and Chile) |
| 9 | Syrian Desert | Subtropical |  |
520,000[3] | 200,000 | Western Asia (Iraq, Jordan, and Syria) |
| 10 | Great Basin | Cold Winter |  |
492,000[3] | 190,000 | United States |
| 11 | Chihuahuan Desert | Subtropical |  |
450,000[3] | 175,000 | North America (Mexico and the United States) |
| 12 | Karakum Desert | Cold Winter |  |
350,000[3] | 135,000 | Turkmenistan |
| 13 | Colorado Plateau | Cold Winter |  |
337,000[3] | 130,000 | United States |
| 14 | Sonoran Desert | Subtropical |  |
310,000[3] | 120,000 | North America (Mexico and the United States) |
| 15 | Kyzylkum Desert | Cold Winter |  |
300,000[3] | 115,000 | Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) |
| 16 | Taklamakan Desert | Cold Winter |  |
270,000 | 105,000 | China |
| 17 | Thar Desert | Subtropical |  |
200,000[4] | 77,000 | South Asia (India and Pakistan) |
| 18 | Dasht-e Margo | Subtropical | 
|
150,000 | 58,000 | Afghanistan |
| 19 | Registan Desert | Subtropical | 
|
146,000 | 56,400 | Afghanistan |
| 20 | Atacama Desert | Mild Coastal |  |
140,000[3] | 54,000 | South America (Chile and Peru) |
| 21 | Mojave Desert | Subtropical | |
124,000[5][6] | 48,000 | United States |
| 22 | Columbia Basin | Cold Winter |  |
83,100[3] | 32,100 | United States |
| 23 | Namib Desert | Cool Coastal |  |
81,000[3] | 31,000 | Southern Africa (Angola and Namibia) |
| 24 | Dasht-e Kavir | Subtropical | |
77,000[7] | 30,000 | Iran |
| 25 | Dasht-e Loot | Subtropical |  |
52,000[7] | 20,100 | Iran |
References[edit]
- ^ "Arabian Desert". Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ Bass, Karen (2009-02-01). "Nature's Great Events:The Okavango Delta, Kalahari Desert" (PDF). press.uchicago.edu. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Largest Desert in the World". Retrieved 2011-12-27.
- ^ Thar Desert - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ "Mapping Perennial Vegetation Cover in the Mojave Desert" (PDF). pubs.usgs.gov. USGS Western Geographic Science Center. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
- ^ "Recoverability and Vulnerability of Desert Ecosystems". mojave.usgs.gov. USGS. 2006-03-03. Archived from the original on 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ a b Wright, John W., ed. (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 456. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.
