GEOSC 010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 19: Bed Load, Soltyrei, Atacama Desert
Document Summary
To understand the distribution and causes of dry lands. To understand basin and range: the evolution of a desert landscape. Climate strongly influence on the nature and intensity of earth"s external process. The dryness of the land is determined by its annual rainfall and its evaporation rate. Climatologist defines dry climate as one in which yearly perspiration is not greater as the potential loss of water by evaporation. Through the annual rainfall maybe the same, the change in evaporation rate can cause the areas to have different intensities of dryness. The dry regions of the world encompass about 42 million square kilometers (about 30% of the earth"s land surface). Water deficiency results in two climatic type regions: desert (or arid) and steppe. Steppe is a marginal and more humid variant of the desert and is transition zone that surrounds the desert and separates it from bordering humid climate.
