The Sahara Desert is the biggest desert on the earth. The Arab word Sahara means wilderness and the name Sahara was derived from this. This great desert is more than 3000 miles long and in most places is over 1000 miles wide. This desert is spread over one-third of Africa and covers parts of ten Arab and African countries.
Because of the dry, barren sand, the temperature during the daytime goes very high here from 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. In summer
it goes even higher 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Though sandy, the Sahara is not flat and sandy completely. There
are mountains more than 10000 feet high, and there are desert plants in most
places. The only totally barren parts of this desert are the ergs, which are
big areas consisting of shifting sand dunes. Even the tribesmen who are used to
the life in desert avoid these ergs.
How was the Sahara desert
formed?
More than 100 million years ago much of the Sahara desert was
covered with water. That is why scientists thought that the sand in the Sahara
desert was left there by the sea water which dried away slowly. But now it has
been found out that the sand of the Sahara is not that old.
The place where now Sahara was much more moist about a million
years ago, and was full of rivers, trees and grass. But when the ice age ended
about half a million years ago, the climate in the Sahara region grew hotter
and drier.
The soil gradually dried out and was eroded by the wind. The large
amount of oil found in the parts of this desert proves that the area was once
inhabited by many plants and animals.