Extreme Landscapes: Desert Landforms

Deserts have a variety of landscape features. Teaching this subject could be tricky but there are some fab web sites on teaching methods and resources, including howstuffworks.com, enchantedlearning.com. This is one of the alien environments that we will learn about and it is important to reflect of the method of teaching to try and bring the subject to life.

Sand dunes: the landforms commonly thought of as typical of deserts, occupy only a relatively small part of the world's deserts. Some deserts, however, have great expanses of dunes, known as sand seas, or ergs.



Yardangs: Bare rock surfaces they occur where wind and water have removed the surface particles and left the hard bedrock exposed. Commonly, flat areas are covered by what is known as a desert pavement, a closely compacted layer of rock and gravel. In some places, especially at the foot of a mountain, there are large deposits of gravel and other coarse debris, which are sometimes quite deep.


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Arroyos: Floods occur and form temporary rivers that carve steep-sided valleys called dry washes or wadis.



Playas: occur when water is carried by floods sometimes accumulates in shallow depressions in the desert floor. Playa lakes usually disappear quickly and leave behind sand, silt, and dissolved minerals, which may form salt flats. There can be permanent water features—such as the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, USA.



Ventifacts: Rocks that are shaped by the wind and occur in deserts due to the Strong winds that carry sand particles. They are shaped by this process of saltating.



There are many more examples of the desert feature but the ones i have shown here are the basics!