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UPPCS World Geography Gap Sheet: Deserts of the World.
UPPCS has asked 16 of these. 3 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
Most hot deserts lie on the western sides of continents between about 15° and 30° latitude, where dry trade winds blow off the land and cold ocean currents run along the coast.
Cold currents make coastal deserts very dry: Benguela → Namib, Humboldt (Peru) → Atacama, Canary → western Sahara. Other deserts lie in a rain-shadow (Patagonia) or deep inside a continent (Gobi).
UPPCS asks a desert with its country, and which deserts are cold.
✅ Already asked (16)
Africa
- Sahara · North Africa; the largest hot desert
- Kalahari · Botswana, Namibia, South Africa; the San (Bushmen)
- Namib · Namibia coast; one of the oldest deserts; Benguela current
Asia
- Arabian (Rub' al Khali) · Saudi Arabia; the 'Empty Quarter', largest sand sea
- Gobi · China–Mongolia; a cold desert
- Taklamakan · Xinjiang, China; cold, between Tian Shan and Kunlun
- Thar · India–Pakistan; the most populated desert
- Karakum and Kyzylkum · Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan–Kazakhstan
- Dasht-e-Kavir and Dasht-e-Lut · Iran; Lut has recorded some of the hottest ground
Americas
- Atacama · Chile; the driest place on Earth; Humboldt current
- Patagonian · Argentina; a rain-shadow desert east of the Andes
- Mojave · USA; Death Valley lies in it
- Sonoran and Chihuahuan · USA–Mexico
- Great Basin · USA; a cold desert
Australia and the poles
- Great Victoria · Australia's largest desert
- Great Sandy, Gibson, Simpson · Australia
❌ Not asked yet (3)
🔒 3 items not asked yet
Africa: 1 · Asia: 1 · Australia and the poles: 1
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⚠️ Gobi and Taklamakan are cold deserts. The Atacama, not the Sahara, is the driest. Kalahari is in southern Africa, not in Asia.
'Asked' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.