Deserts, Glaciers, And The Climate

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Although deserts and glaciers appear very different, they have a common link: extreme climates. The extreme temperatures these regions face has a significant impact on both the desert and glacial landscape. Extreme changes in temperatures can be caused by human activity, environmental changes, or a combination of both. Climate changes can cause less rainfall in desert areas which can cause water tables to become lower and more salt appears in top-soil and water. The wind can become arid and dry and cause desert like conditions in non-desert areas, thus expanding the size of a desert. As temperatures continue to rise with global warming, it is causing glaciers and ice caps to melt in the northern areas. The Earth consists of seven major belts. Three of the belts experience high amounts of rainfall and four of the belts experience low amounts of rainfall. Dry hot deserts lie in a subtropical region. The arid dry wind that blows across this land produces erosion that has a significant impact on landforms in the desert. The air in the desert does not contain much density, so it can therefore carry grains of sands through the wind. This can cause abrasion on rocks giving them a distinctive polished type surface texture and shaped with curves. These types of rocks are known as abraded rocks. Bedrock in desert areas becomes steep-sided with fat-topped buttes. When the wind moves through the desert area and deposits sediments, sand is deposited into a hill or a ridge. This type of landform is known as a dune. Dunes are asymmetric with a slight windward slope. The windward slope is the side of the dune that faces the wind. The side of the slope that faces away from the wind is known as the leeward side. This side of the dune becomes very steep. Dunes are formed when sand creeps up the windward side and falls down the leeward side. Deflation is another type

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