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The Sahara is the world’s largest “hot” desert. It stretches across fourteen North African countries, with a total area of well over 3.3 million square miles (9 million sq. km). There are huge areas of sand, but over two-thirds of the Sahara con- sists of features such as gravel plains, and mountains tall enough to have winter snows.

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The Arabian Desert, which is located in region of western Asia commonly known as the Middle East, is the sandiest of the great deserts. At its heart is the pure sand desert known as the Empty Quarter. This grim, inhospitable area, usually entered only by local Bedouin people, contains huge, ancient dunes. It covers more than 900,000 square miles (2.33 million sq. km). The Gobi Desert of Mongolia and northern China is a region of high, waterless steppes and stone-littered plains, which suffers blistering summer heat and frozen winters. This region covers approximately 500,000 square miles (1 million sq. km). The North American Desert is a combination of four major desert areas. It ranges from the valleys and dunes of the semi- desert Great Basin, through the mountains and dried lakes of the Mojave Desert, and the cactus-studded plains of the Sonoran Desert; finally it reaches the shrubby desert lands of the Chihuahua Desert in Mexico.

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Deserts