29 terms in 3.1.2
Arid landscape development in contrasting settings
Wind shapes desert landscapes by eroding, transporting and depositing sand and rock particles. Each process creates a di
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Arid landscape development in contrasting settings
Water shapes desert landscapes during rare but intense rainstorms. It carves dry valleys, builds fans of debris, and lea
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Arid landscape development in contrasting settings
Desert landscapes look different depending on which processes are active and how long they have been operating. Mid-lati
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Arid landscape development in contrasting settings
Desert landscapes are shaped by two dominant sets of processes: aeolian (wind-driven) and fluvial (water-driven), each p
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Case studies
You need a detailed case study of one real hot desert. You must use actual data and evidence from that place to support
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Case studies
Desertification turns productive land into barren, desert-like conditions. You need a real local-scale case study to exp
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Case studies
This subtopic asks you to apply everything you have learned about hot desert processes and landscapes to real, named pla
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Desertification
Hot deserts have not always covered the same areas they do today. Over the last 10,000 years, their boundaries have shif
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Desertification
Desertification turns fertile land at desert edges into barren, unproductive ground. Climate change and human activities
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Desertification
Desertification threatens specific regions around the world. It damages plant and animal communities, reshapes the land,
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Desertification
Climate models predict hotter, drier conditions at desert margins. Depending on how much warming occurs, local communiti
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Desertification
Desertification — the process by which fertile land at the edges of existing deserts degrades into arid, unproductive te
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
Geographers treat a desert as a system — a set of connected parts. Energy and materials enter as inputs, move through st
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
A landform is a single physical feature shaped by natural processes, such as a sand dune. A landscape is the wider scene
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
Hot deserts cluster in two broad belts around the globe. They form where specific atmospheric and geographic conditions
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
Hot deserts have extreme climates, thin nutrient-poor soils, and specially adapted plants. These three features shape ea
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
The water balance compares how much rain falls against how much water evaporates. The aridity index uses this comparison
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Deserts as natural systems
Hot deserts are best understood as natural systems — environments where energy, materials, and processes interact as inp
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Quantitative and qualitative skills
Geographers study desert landscapes by observing features directly, taking physical measurements, and using maps to reco
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Quantitative and qualitative skills
Geographers collect numerical measurements in desert environments. They then use statistical techniques to find patterns
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Quantitative and qualitative skills
Studying desert landscapes requires both quantitative skills — collecting and processing numerical data such as measurem
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Hot deserts get their energy from three sources: intense sunlight, wind, and occasional fast-moving water. These three f
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Deserts gain and lose sediment in a measurable way. A sediment budget tracks where material comes from, how it moves, an
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Five key processes shape desert landscapes. Weathering breaks rock down in place, erosion removes material, transportati
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Hot deserts break rocks apart in specific ways. Extreme daily temperature swings, rare moisture, and salt all stress roc
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Wind erodes, moves, and drops sediment in hot deserts. It does this through several distinct processes, each shifting ma
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Deserts form because several factors stop rain from reaching an area. These include high-pressure air systems, distance
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Water reaches hot deserts in three main ways. When it does arrive, it comes suddenly and powerfully — causing rapid floo
Hot desert systems and landscapes
Systems and processes
Hot deserts are shaped by a distinct set of processes driven by intense solar radiation, wind, and the episodic — occasi
Hot desert systems and landscapes