Arid and semi-arid areas

-Arid regions are areas which are hot and very dry or known as deserts. These are dry
areas that receive less than 250 mm of rainfall annually. They also known as hot
deserts.

-Semi-arid regions these are areas which are partially dry but resemble characteristics
of arid areas. They receive little or no rainfall at most. These are areas with a long dry
season such that the evapotranspiration exceeds the precipitation. The rain in these
regions higher than that of the arid areas. They are found in savanna climates.

Characteristics of arid regions

-arid areas are characterised by the following:

• The areas are dry meaning that they receive less than 250mm throughout the year.

• The day temperatures can reach 40°C while the night temperatures they can

reach -4°C.

• The evapotranspiration in these areas always exceeds the precipitation.

• Droughts occur frequently.

• There is little or no vegetation cover.

• Gusts of wind blow strongly due to absence of vegetation which could have

acted as wind breaks.

Semi-arid regions

-semi-arid regions have high temperatures and do experience rainfall.

-These are quite hot but fairly humid areas

Characteristics

• The region experiences rainy summers and cool dry winters.

• Rainfall is usually between 250-500mm

• Temperature usually between 21°C and 32°C.

• There is sparse vegetation such as short grasses and scattered trees

NB:Henceforth, from the characteristics above it is prudent to mention that the semi-
arid region is quite different from the arid region.

Distribution of arid regions

-Arid regions are those regions which are mainly called the hot deserts. The hot deserts
are found in three different places in Africa.
-These are the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Namib desert in Namibia and the Sahara
Desert 30° north of the equator covering one quarter of the Saharan area. Worldwide
most hot deserts are located between 15° and 30° north and south of the equator and
mostly on western coast. These areas are characterised by high pressure.

location of deserts in Africa

Climatic characteristics of arid areas

-these areas are very dry. They receive rainfall which is less than 250mm.

When the areas experience rainfall it is usually of high intensity and short lived

(meaning for a short period of time) in other words a short storm. There is no or

little cloud cover and the temperature ranges from 38-40 degrees Celsius. The high

temperatures result in high evapotranspiration rates and this causes a deficit in

moisture levels. At night temperatures drop down to at least 0 degrees Celsius and
this causes the formation of dew. High wind speeds are common in the arid regions.

You have probably heard of the Sahara or Namib deserts. There are various types

of deserts. Hot deserts are located north and south of the equator in the interior of

continents and the west coast. Hot deserts are arid regions in the world include the

Kalahari and Namib deserts in southern Africa, The Sahara Desert in north Africa, the

Indian Thar desert, Arabian desert, West Australian, the Mohave in Western America

and the Atacama in South America

Vegetation cover in arid areas

Deserts support the growth of a few and small plants. However, the vegetation is

scarce due to extreme harsh weather conditions like high temperatures and less
rainfall. The saline soils which are infertile and sandy support the growth of very little
specialised vegetation like xerophytic plants. Xerophytic plants grow in semi-arid

regions where ground water is available. These are plants that grow in arid and semi-
arid conditions. They can survive with little water.

Distribution of Semi-arid regions

The semi-arid region is quite different from the arid region. This region is also known as
the savannah climatic region. It covers the largest part of Africa and is mainly found
within the tropics. This type of climate also constitutes much of the low veld areas of
Zimbabwe.

Wind action processes and resultant landforms

-wind moves from place to place. As it moves it erodes, transports and deposits material.
These are therefore called wind action processes. Wind also has the ability to curve
landforms as it erodes and deposits material. Wind plays a very important role in
landform development in desert areas.

Wind erosion

Wind has the capability to erode. In this section we are going to see examples of
landforms that were formed due to wind erosion. Wind erosion is the process whereby
wind participates in the removal or eroding of loose materials. Wind erosion is a very
effective process in this case because of the existence of large areas with dry and loose
unconsolidated sand soils and silt. The absence of vegetation cover also facilitates or
promotes the wind action to erode as there is nothing that binds the soil particles
together. Nevertheless, we have three main processes of wind erosion namely deflation,
abrasion and attrition.

Deflation: Deflation is a process by which wind blows away dry and unconsolidated sand,
silt and dust from surfaces. Wind removes loose materials and if it has a high velocity
(speed) even heavier particles can be moved. Wind deflation results in what are called
deflation hollows. Below is a diagram showing a depression hollow.

Abrasion: It is the blasting effect of sand and rock materials as they are being
transported through the process known as saltation. This sand blasting is usually
effective in areas with less resistant rocks as well as near the ground level. Abrasion
results in landforms which are called rock pedestals, yardangs and zeugens and these are
mainly found in hot deserts.

Attrition: As wind transports its material, the material is constantly rubbing against
each other as it moves. The rock particles wear off as this happens. This is therefore
called attrition.

Landforms associated with wind erosion

Rock pedestals

These are landforms which are found in deserts. The rocks which form this type of
landforms are those with alternating bands of weak and hard rocks. As wind blows the
softer rock is eroded at a faster rate than the hard rock. This however results in
landforms which are mushroom shaped.

Yardangs

Yardangs are landforms which develop where rock masses have vertical bands of hard
and soft rock. The rock masses lie parallel to the prevailing wind. There is more of wind
abrasion which attacks the soft rock to form troughs whereas the more resistant rock
form ridges. The ridges are therefore called yardangs.
Zeugens

These are landforms which develop where rocks have horizontal layers of soft and hard
rocks. Wind erosion attacks the soft weaker rock producing ridges and furrow landscapes.
The ridges formed are called zeugens.

Ventifacts

A rock that has been polished, abraded and grooved by wind erosion. Ventifacts have
sharp edges. They are found in hot deserts such as Sahara.

Wind transportation
-wind can transport loose material from the ground for a long distance. The distance
depends on the speed of the wind. For the transportation to occur it depends with the
wind velocity, turbulence and direction of the wind as well as the nature of materials
being transported. The transported materials vary in size.

Wind transportation is favourable when winds are strong usually 20km per hour.

- wind transports its material in suspension, saltation and traction/creep form.

Suspension

a whirlwind usually it picks up every loose material that is in its way. The loose material
could be papers, sand and silt. These are then carried in suspension form or in air. wind
has the capacity to move things in suspension form. Material that can be carried or
transported in suspension form include sand, silt and clay.

Saltation
-wind has the ability to carry rock particles and sand from the ground. The material is
lifted up and down from the ground in what can be referred to as a hopping or bouncing
manner.

Traction/Surface creep

There are some material which are quite big to be lifted and transported by wind.
These materials include pebbles, cobbles and large rock fragments. They are rolled along
the surface depending on the direction of the wind. The diagram below shows the three
transportation processes

Wind deposition and resultant features.

-Wind reaches a point where it finally deposits the material. Wind deposit its material
when wind velocity drops. Firstly, course material such as sand are deposited first then
finer materials like dust comes last. There are various types of sand dunes which are
formed due to wind deposition. Namely there are barchan dunes, seif dunes transverse
dunes and loess deposits.

Barchan dunes

These are crescent shaped dune with a convex windward side. It also has two horns
which curve downwind on either side of the steeper concave slip to the leeward side.
They are formed at right angles to the direction of the prevailing wind.

-barchan dunes are symmetrical.

Seif dunes

The other name for seif dunes is longitudinal dunes. These are long kind of ridge like
dunes. They run parallel to the direction of the prevailing wind. seif dunes can be up to
100 or 200 metres long. They are also asymmetrical in cross profile. It is also safe to
say that seif dunes develop from the joining of several barchan dune

Transverse dunes

These types of dune are a bit different from the others. They start of as irregular
ridges formed due to coalescence of several barchans. Mainly these dunes form a series
of long wavy ridges. These ridges will be lying at right angles to the direction of the
winds. The dunes lie at right angles to the prevailing winds.

Loess deposits

These are thick brownish yellow like sandy loam rich in lime and are homogeneous in
structure. They are sand deposits from deserts and are deposited in areas outside the
desert margins. Loess are rich fertile soils.