Question

Which is the largest desert in the world?
(A) Gobi
(B) Kalahari
(C) Patagonia
(D) Sahara

Answer 1

Hint: A desert is a region having extreme temperature conditions with very low amounts of rainfall and scanty vegetation. Deserts are categorised as Hot desert and Cold desert. The world’s largest desert is a type of hot desert.

Complete Answer:
The Sahara is the world’s largest and the hottest desert on the earth. The word ‘Sahara’ in Arabic means ‘desert’. It covers almost the entire northern part of Africa. It lies between the Atlantic Ocean in the west, Red Sea in the east, Mediterrnean Sea in the north and huge mounds of sand dunes in the south. It is also bounded by a chain of mountains in the north called Atlas mountain. The only source of water in the Sahara desert is the Nile river. Sand dunes are quite common in this region. The Sahara is areion of hot and dry climate with clear sky. The average annual rainfall is less than twenty centimetre. It is very hot during the day whereas the nights are cool. The day temperature is about forty three degree celsius and the temperature at night goes down to about ten degree celsius. As a result of high temperature and low rainfall, vegetation cover is scanty or almost nil, except near the Nile river valley.

So the correct and answer is (D).

Note: The north western part of Sahara is known as rocky desert. Most of the land is barren and uninhabited. Density of the population is low. Population is mainly concentrated near water bodies like oasis. The cultivation of crops is possible around the oases. Major crops are wheat, maize, barley, millets, beans.