Great Warm Deserts of the World Landscapes and Evolution

by Goudie, Andrew S.

• ISBN13: 9780199245154
• ISBN10: 0199245150
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is the first-ever regional study of the geomorphology of the world's deserts, demonstrating why different deserts have special landscape features and land-forming processes. It explains the climatic and tectonic history of deserts, showing how the histories of the deserts have been longand complex, and how they have responded to global changes in climate, particularly over the course of the last few millions of years. Each of the major warm deserts of the world is treated in detail, and the book is extensively illustrated with numerous plates and figures. A large andcomprehensive bibliography provides a guide to the international literature.

Table of Contents

List of Colour Plates	xii
List of Plates	xiii
List of Figures	xv
List of Tables	xxi
Desert Diversity	1	(18)
Introduction	1	(4)
Climate and Process	5	(4)
Controls of Desert Climates	9	(2)
The Diversity of Desert Landscapes	11	(7)
Climate Change	18	(1)
The Deserts of North America	19	(42)
Introduction	19	(3)
The Sonoran Desert	22	(1)
The Chihuahuan Desert	22	(1)
The Mojave Desert	23	(1)
The Great Basin	24	(1)
The Colorado Plateau	24	(1)
Greater American Deserts	25	(1)
The Colorado Cliffs	25	(4)
Pediments	29	(2)
Alluvial Fans	31	(2)
Great Pluvial Lakes	33	(6)
Badlands	39	(3)
Arroyos	42	(2)
The Dust Bowl and Modern Dust Storms	44	(6)
Pans of the Plains	50	(4)
Drainage Alignment	54	(1)
Dunes	55	(4)
Conclusions	59	(2)
The Deserts of South America	61	(26)
Introduction	61	(6)
The Andes	67	(2)
The Age of the Atacama	69	(2)
Palaeolakes and Pluvials	71	(5)
Aeolian Landforms	76	(1)
Nitrates and Other Salts	77	(4)
Wind Action in the Altiplano	81	(2)
Patagonia and the Pampas	83	(3)
Conclusions	86	(1)
The Sahara	87	(35)
Introduction	87	(4)
Long-term Tectonic and Geologic Setting	91	(4)
Wind Erosion	95	(1)
Saharan Dust and Loess	96	(7)
Dunes	103	(4)
Climatic Change	107	(6)
The Chotts	113	(2)
The Inland Delta of the Niger	115	(3)
The Chad Basin	118	(3)
Conclusions	121	(1)
The Libyan Desert	122	(30)
Introduction	122	(6)
The Nile	128	(6)
Holocene Lake Basins and Rivers	134	(4)
Tufas	138	(1)
The Great Depressions	139	(2)
Yardangs	141	(2)
The Gilf Kebir and the Selima Sand Sheet	143	(4)
Dunes	147	(4)
Postscript: The Horn of Africa	151	(1)
Conclusions	151	(1)
The Namib	152	(31)
Introduction	152	(5)
The Impact of Early Cretaceous Tectonics	157	(8)
The Great Escarpment	165	(3)
The Onset of Aridity and an Ancient Namib	168	(3)
The Namib Sand Sea	171	(4)
Quaternary Climatic Change	175	(2)
Gypsum Crusts and Salt Weathering	177	(2)
The Rivers	179	(3)
Conclusions	182	(1)
The Kalahari and the Southern African Interior	183	(32)
Introduction	183	(5)
Geological Background	188	(1)
Pans	188	(10)
Calcrete	198	(2)
Silcretes	200	(1)
Dry Valleys (mekgacha)	200	(4)
Lake Palaeo-Makgadikgadi	204	(3)
The Okavango Swamps	207	(1)
Etosha	208	(3)
The Kalahari Dunes	211	(2)
Conclusions	213	(2)
The Middle East	215	(39)
Introduction	215	(2)
The Arabian Plate	217	(2)
The Red Sea Basin	219	(2)
Sinai	221	(1)
The Dead Sea	222	(2)
The Walls of Rum	224	(4)
Run-off and Erosion in the Negev	228	(1)
The Arabian (Persian) Gulf Basin	229	(3)
Sabkhas---Coastal and Inland	232	(3)
Salt Structures	235	(4)
Dust Storms, Dust Deposits, and Wind Erosion	239	(6)
Arabian Sands	245	(4)
Climate Change and Humid Landforms	249	(3)
Conclusions	252	(2)
The Deserts of India and Pakistan	254	(36)
Introduction	254	(3)
The Indus	257	(4)
The Arid Valleys of the High Mountains	261	(3)
The Mountains to the West of the Indus	264	(1)
Lost Rivers of the Desert	265	(2)
Kutch and the Ranns	267	(1)
The Aravallis	268	(1)
The Lakes of Rajasthan	269	(2)
Dust Storms	271	(1)
Dunes	272	(6)
The Extent of the Fossil Sand Features of Mega-Thar	278	(6)
Miliolite Deposits	284	(4)
Conclusions	288	(2)
The Deserts of Central Asia and China	290	(29)
Introduction	290	(1)
The Deserts of the Former Soviet Union	291	(1)
The Caspian, the Aral, and Other Depressions	291	(8)
Loess and Dust	299	(2)
The Sand Deserts	301	(2)
The Drylands of China, Tibet, and Mongolia	303	(1)
The Taklamakan	303	(2)
The Tibetan Plateau	305	(4)
Other Deserts	309	(1)
Loess	310	(5)
Dust Storms and Deflation	315	(2)
Precipitation and Vegetation Change in the Late Quaternary	317	(1)
Conclusions	318	(1)
Australia	319	(41)
Introduction	319	(6)
Physiographic Types	325	(3)
Dust Storms and Deposits	328	(2)
Dunes	330	(3)
Lunettes	333	(1)
Pans	334	(5)
Lake Eyre and its Basin	339	(3)
Anabranching Rivers	342	(3)
Ayers Rock and the Olgas	345	(1)
Stony Deserts	346	(1)
Gilgai and Other Patterned Ground	347	(2)
Duricrusts	349	(4)
Two Limestone Landscapes: The Nullarbor Plain and the Kimberleys	353	(3)
Late Pleistocene Climate Changes	356	(3)
Conclusions	359	(1)
Conclusions	360	(11)
The Importance of Plate Tectonic Setting	360	(1)
The Antiquity of Deserts	361	(1)
Pleistocene Accentuation of Aridity	362	(1)
Environmental Fluctuations Within the Pleistocene	362	(3)
The Frequency of Climatic Change	365	(2)
The Climatological Context of Change	367	(2)
The Present and the Future	369	(2)
References	371	(68)
Index	439