Deserts Of South Africa

Kalahari Desert, Southern African inland dry zone, also called “Kalahari Basin”, central and southern Africa is the main terrain area . The total area is about 630,000 square kilometers.

The Kalahari Desert also translates the Kalahari Desert and the Kalahari Basin. Dry inland area of southern Africa . Also called “Kalahari (Kalahari) basin,” Africa south of the main terrain area . The total area is about 630,000 square kilometers.

Geography

It is a large basin-like plain on the inland plateau of southern Africa. It occupies almost Botswana all, the eastern third of Namibia and South Africa Cape far north part. In the southwest than that of rice namely Namibia mix of seaside desert as a whole. The longest part of the Kalahari Desert is about 1,600 kilometers from north to south, and the maximum distance from east to west is about 960 kilometers. Its area is estimated to be 930,000 square kilometers.

North of Lake Ngami , the southern boundary of the Orange River (Orange River), about east longitude 26 °, near the West until the Atlantic coast. Mainly in Botswana territory of Namibia, some belonging to Angola and the Republic of South Africa .

Geomorphic features

Belongs to the landscape in Africa Platform depressed basin on the altitude of 700–1000 meters, 1,500 meters and is surrounded by high mountains and highlands. The terrain in the basin is not very ups and downs, and isolated islands and mountains occasionally appear. There are many dry trenches and fine sand on the ground. There are Kalahari sand dunes in the Kalahari Basin, which is the largest sand dune area in the world.

Edge of the basin has a river crossing, its start and end points are outside of the basin: northeastern portion width, r (Kwando R.) and Zambezi upstream (Zambezi R.); the northwest of the interior columns r (Cunene R. ) And the Orange River (Orange R.) entrenched in the low-lying valleys of the south.

Climate temperature

Kalahari and Sahara Central considerable latitude (just south latitude and latitude of difference), similar to the climate, are also affected by the subtropical high pressure system impact, dried ground throughout the year, annual rainfall of 125–250 mm.

Climatic vegetation

Its climate and vegetation of the Sahara not identical, slightly more due to precipitation of a certain vegetation cover. The climate and vegetation change from southwest to northeast. The west is desert, with succulent plants and shrubs growing on sand dunes up to 100 meters high. And more rain north north-east, tropical dry grassland and savanna .

Geographical feature

Landform

The Kalahari Desert has little undulations, and there are sandy plains everywhere, with elevations above 900 meters. The bedrock is only exposed in the low and upright hills. They are few but conspicuously appear on the general ground. In addition to this group of hills, three types of ground cover all the characteristics of the Kalahari Desert: small sand plains, vertical dunes and shallow lakes (depressions). The depth of sand generally exceeds 60 meters. In many areas, the sand is red, which is the result of a thin layer of iron oxide covering the sand grains.

Dry lake

Or depression is the biggest feature of the desert water system, and it is the “dry lake” at the end of a very short stream. Water never flows into the ocean from the Kalahari Desert, but each stream ends its flow in a slightly lower pit, where there is no exit. When the stream dried up, the fine silt particles brought by the slow stream settled down along with the soluble calcium minerals and the salt condensed by the evaporated water. The result is that these grounds have no vegetation, and appear shimmering white when dry, hardened by the gluing activity of soluble minerals, and sometimes covered by shallow, stagnant water. In places with low salt content, the depressions may be covered with grass after rain.

Water system

In the southern and central parts of the Kalahari Desert, surface water is only available in widely distributed small puddles, and there is no surface water system. Almost all the rain disappeared into the deep sand as soon as it fell. Found in southern and some of the Central Kalahari a large number of ancient water — some of it on the ground, others through aerial photography did not discover. Even at the time of the most rainfall of the year, these water systems are no longer functioning today.

soil

The soil in the Kalahari Desert is mostly sand-based, with red color and low organic matter content. From a chemical point of view, they are relatively alkaline and extremely dry. In or near salt marshes, the soil tends to contain calcium or salt, which is toxic to most vegetation.

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