How the Sahara Desert Formed How deep is the sand? What's underneath?
Extremely interesting facts Posted by Alessandro13 Is it a gradual transition or is it all pure sand? The Sahara, which means desert in Arabic, extends across North Africa. The Sahara is the world's largest non-polar desert, covering over 9,000,000 km², the size of the United States. Although the Sahara is famous for its sand dunes, most of the surface is made up of hamada or rocky plateau. The Sahara's stunning dune fields only cover about 15% of the entire desert surface and are found mostly in the north-central region. In the dune areas of Algeria and Libya, the depth of the sand varies because the dunes can build up to several hundred meters high, but then change as the sand shifts. The desert expanse is dominated by barren, rocky expanses with dry hills and valleys. What many people don't know is that the Sahara was once a fertile area that supported thriving human communities. A study of core samples has revealed that the ancient climate of North Africa und...