What is the origin of the word desert?

The two main causes of desert formation are drought and wind. In addition, people cut down forests and trees, destroyed grasslands, and deprived the surface of the land from plant cover, thus forming deserts. The formation of deserts, in addition to arid climatic conditions and indiscriminate felling of forests and trees, and destruction of grasslands, also requires abundant desert materials**, which are mostly distributed in sediment-rich inland intermountain basins and depressions and lowlands on denuded plateaus.

Sand sources have fine-grained material from various sediments, ancient or modern. For example, the sand in China's Taklamakan Desert and Gurbantunggut Desert originates from paleofluvial alluvium; Most of the sand in the Tengger Desert, Mu Us Desert and Lesser Tengger Desert originates from ancient and modern alluvial and lacustrine deposits; The deserts in the middle reaches of the Tarim River and the lower reaches of the Southwest Korla River are derived from modern fluvial alluvium; The sand dunes of the Ulan Bu and desert and the front areas of Helan Mountain, Wolf Mountain-Bayinula Mountain** are alluvial; The remnants of the weathering of bedrock in the sand dunes in the highlands of central and western Ordos.

Deserts were formed by cutting down forests and trees, destroying grasslands, and removing the vegetation from the surface of the land.

Desert mainly refers to a barren area where the ground is completely covered with sand, plants are very scarce, rainfall is scarce, and the air is dry.

Deserts are also known as "sand curtains", areas where there is a shortage of water and few plants. The desert area is mostly sandy beaches or sand dunes, and rocks under the sand are often found. Some deserts are salt flats and completely devoid of vegetation.

Deserts are generally aeolian landforms. There are sometimes valuable mineral deposits in the desert, and many oil deposits have been discovered in recent times. The desert is rarely inhabited, and the resources are relatively easy to exploit.

The desert has a dry climate, and it is also a happy place for archaeologists, who can find many human artifacts and earlier fossils.

Deserts are formed due to over-cultivation, overgrazing, unreasonable harvesting, arid climate, and high winds.

1. Excessive reclamation.

Between 1958 and 1962, agriculture was one-sided. Due to the severe wind erosion, after the sand barren area is reclaimed, the yield can still maintain twenty or thirty kilograms in the first 1 2 years, and it is difficult to recover even the seeds in the future, so the only way to abandon the cultivation is to abandon the land.

2. Overgrazing.

Due to the overgrazing of local herdsmen, the grassland produces insufficient grass, so that many high-quality grass seeds are eaten before they can grow or the seeds are mature. In addition, like goats, which account for more than half of the total number of livestock, they are very fast, good at stripping the stems and bark of sandy shrubs, gouging grass roots, and trampling, so that the grassland produces less and less grass, forming desertified land, causing a vicious circle.

2. Unreasonable woodpicking.

For example, it is estimated that a family of five needs more than 700 kilograms of firewood per year, and each household needs 5,000 kilograms if Artemisia is extracted, which is equivalent to most or all of the Artemisia oleifera produced by more than 3 hectares of fixed and semi-fixed sand dunes.

4. Arid climate and strong winds.

The so-called desertification is the process in which the ground loses cover after the destruction of vegetation, and under the action of arid climate and high winds, the green fields gradually become similar to desert landscapes.

Features of the desert

1. Soil. The soil of dry areas has a lot of minerals and very little organic fertilizer. Repeated water accumulation turns some soils into a saline layer. The calcium carbonate precipitated in the salt solution can dip sand and stones into a 50-meter-thick "cement". Acacia.

The saltpeter layer is a reddish-brown to white layer common to desert soils. Saltpeter layers, which are typically clumped or encased in mineral particles, are formed by a complex interaction between water and carbon dioxide. Carbon oxide comes from plant roots, or as a by-product of organic decay.

The climate is hot, with a large temperature difference between morning and evening.

2. Plants. Most desert plants are drought or salt resistant. Some store water in roots, stems, and leaves; Some have a large rhizome system that reaches the aquifer, holding back the soil and preventing soil erosion; Some have larger stems and leaves, which can reduce wind speed and preserve sandy soil.

The above content reference: Encyclopedia - Desert.