Deserts and Grasslands

24 deserts and grasslands — why hot deserts hug western coasts, cold deserts, and every grassland name (prairie to veld).

On this map (24)

Sahara · Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Sudan … — Hot desert. Largest HOT desert; lies in the belt of subtropical high pressure ✓ (UPSC 2011)
Namib · Namibia, Angola — Coastal desert. Foggy coastal desert kept dry by the cold Benguela current
Kalahari · Botswana, Namibia, South Africa — Semi-desert. A sandy semi-desert basin; the Okavango delta sits on its edge
Arabian (Rub’ al Khali) · Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Yemen — Hot desert. The “Empty Quarter”: largest continuous sand sea
Syrian Desert · Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia — Hot desert. Stony desert between the Levant and Mesopotamia
Thar · India (Rajasthan) | Pakistan — Hot desert. Low-latitude hot desert ✓ (UPSC 1991); afforestation checks its spread (UPSC 1983)
Sonoran–Mojave · USA | Mexico — Hot desert. Cold California current offshore; Death Valley in the Mojave is the hottest spot recorded
Atacama · Chile, Peru — Coastal desert · driest. Driest non-polar place on Earth — the cold Humboldt (Peru) current + Andes rain shadow
Great Victoria · Australia — Hot desert. Largest desert of Australia ✓ (UPSC 2009)
Great Sandy · Australia — Hot desert. North-west Australia; cold West Australian current offshore
Gobi · Mongolia | China — Cold desert. Cold, stony continental desert — far from the sea and in the rain shadow of the Himalaya–Tibet
Taklamakan · China (Xinjiang) — Cold desert. Sand desert of the Tarim basin, walled in by the Tian Shan and Kunlun
Karakum · Turkmenistan — Continental desert. “Black sand”; the Karakum canal from the Amu Darya helped dry the Aral
Patagonian · Argentina — Rain-shadow desert. Lies in the RAIN SHADOW of the Andes — a desert on the EAST coast
Prairies · USA, Canada — Temperate grassland. Wheat and maize belt; tall-grass east, short-grass west
Pampas · Argentina, Uruguay — Temperate grassland. Temperate grassland: wheat, cattle (estancias)
Llanos · Venezuela, Colombia — Tropical grassland. Savanna of the Orinoco basin
Campos · Brazil — Tropical grassland. Brazilian savanna (cerrado) on the plateau; soya frontier
Savanna (Serengeti) · Tanzania, Kenya — Tropical grassland. Tropical grassland with scattered trees; the great wildebeest migration
Veld · South Africa — Temperate grassland. High Veld: temperate grassland on the plateau; maize (“mealies”) and gold
Downs · Australia — Temperate grassland. Murray–Darling grasslands; merino sheep, wheat
Canterbury · New Zealand — Temperate grassland. Grassland plains of South Island; sheep
Steppes · Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan — Temperate grassland. Eurasian temperate grassland; black chernozem soil — the “breadbasket”
Puszta · Hungary — Temperate grassland. Hungary’s grassland plain

Asked in exams

UPSC 1992Sahara-type deserts at 20–30° west margins → offshore winds all year
UPSC 2011African–Eurasian desert belt → subtropical high ✓, warm currents ✗
UPSC 2006Harmattan is an East African wind ✗
UPSC 1991Thar → low-latitude desert
UPSC 1983To check the Thar’s expansion → afforestation
UPSC 2009Great Victoria Desert → Australia

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