Paper Topic:

Deserts, Glaciers, and Climate

1 . Compare the geological features of a desert landscape and glacial landscape

Basically , a desert is a type of region or landscape with very little precipitation . Geographically , a desert has very high temperatures at day and low temperatures at night . The reason for this is because the desert air is so dry that it cannot block sunlight during the day nor can it trap heat during the night (Britannica Encyclopedia , 2008 . Most deserts are formed due to rainshadows , which are mountains that block the pathway of precipitation to the desert (Britannica Encyclopedia

br 2008

Usually , deserts are composed of rocky surfaces and sand . Certain parts of the desert surfaces are also comprised of ergs , which are sand dunes that are also made up of plateau landforms and hamada , which are stony surfaces that are formed by sand seas . The landscape also has visible rocky terrain (Britannica Encyclopedia , 2008 . Other geological features of the desert include desert soils , fluvial deposits , oases , and bedrocks , among others (Britannica Encyclopedia , 2008

Moreover , a desert also consists of dunes , which are geological features that consist of hills of sands that are created by the aeolian process This process refers to the wind 's activity and particularly , its ability to form and manipulate the Earth 's surface (United States Geological Survey , 1997 . Basically , a wind can transport , deposit and erode material and are highly effective agents in certain regions that have little vegetation and large amount of unformed or unconsolidated elements (United States Geological Survey , 1997

Due to the ability of the wind the shape the surface of the earth different types of dunes are formed . These include the longitudinal dune which consists of narrow and long ridges that are parallel to the prevailing wind the barchan dune which is a crescent shaped dune that point downward across an irrigated field and formed on flat and hard desert floors where the wind is constant and where the supply of sand is limited the transverse dune which merges with the barchan dune to form asymmetrical and continuous ridges that are perpendicular to the strongest winds the star dune which are formed by the blowing of the wind in all directions , forming stationary , isolated , star-shaped dunes and the parabolic dune which are open ends of V or U shapes that face the upwind (Strahler , 2005

On the other hand , glacial landforms are the result of the massive movement of large sheets of ice during the Ice Age . Commonly called glaciers , since the end of the ice age , they are now only developed in certain parts of the world particularly in Antarctica , Greenland , and the highest mountains of the globe (Britannica Encyclopedia , 2008 Basically , the types and geological features of glaciers can be narrowed into two classifications : valley or mountain glaciers and ice sheets or continental glaciers (Britannica Encyclopedia , 2008

Generally , glaciers are modified by a several processes that ultimately result in the formation of certain rocks and deposits . One noticeable process is erosion , which can take place through two...

4 pages

34.0 KB

Free sing-up