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SAI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
                  STD-VII                                                           SUBJECT-GEOGRAPHY
               TOPIC-CH 9-LIFE IN DESERTS

               SUB –TOPIC- THE HOT DESERT – SAHARA
               NOTES-

               The Hot Desert – Sahara



               Sahara is the world’s largest desert. It has an area of around 8.54 million sq. km. The
               Sahara desert touches eleven countries – Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania,
               Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. In the Sahara desert, there are
               gravel plains and elevated plateaus with bare rocky surface. These rocky surfaces may
               be more than 2500m high at some places.

               Climate


               Sahara desert climate is extreme, scorching hot and parched dry. It has a short rainy
               season. The sky is cloudless and clear. Here, the moisture evaporates faster than it
               accumulates. The temperatures during the day may soar as high as 50°C, heating up
               the sand and the bare rocks, which in turn, radiates heat making everything around hot.
               The nights may be freezing cold with temperatures nearing zero degrees.

               Flora and Fauna


               In the Sahara desert vegetation includes cactus, date palms and acacia. In some
               places, there are oasis – green islands with date palms surrounding them. Camels,
               hyenas, jackals, foxes, scorpions, many varieties of snakes and lizards are the
               prominent animal species living there.
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