 |
| Searles
Lake, California. (Photograph courtesy of Kerr-McGee, Inc.) |
Dry areas created by global
circulation patterns contain most of the deserts on the Earth. The deserts
of our world are not restricted by latitude, longitude, or elevation. They
occur from areas close to the poles down to areas near the Equator. The
People's Republic of China has both the highest desert, the Qaidam
Depression that is 2,600 meters above sea level, and one of the lowest
deserts, the Turpan Depression that is 150 meters below sea level. Deserts
are not confined to Earth. The atmospheric circulation patterns of other
terrestrial planets with gaseous envelopes also depend on the rotation of
those planets, the tilts of their axes, their distances from the Sun, and
the composition and density of their atmospheres. Except for the poles,
the entire surface of Mars is a desert. Venus also may support deserts.
 |
| The
Garlock fault, near the bottom of this Landsat image, is generally
considered to be the geologic border between the Mojave Desert in
the south and the Great Basin Desert in the north. The Great Basin
contains more than 150 discrete desert basins separated by more
than 160 mountain ranges. |
|