List of deserts by area

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This is a list of deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts with an area greater than 52,000 square kilometres (20,100 sq mi).

Some of Earth's biggest deserts
Rank Name Type Image Area
(km²)
Area
(sq mi)
Location
1 Antarctica Cold Winter Antarctica surface.jpg 14,000,000 14,000,000 05,400,000 5,400,000 Antarctica
2 Sahara Subtropical Sahara satellite hires.jpg 12,000,000 9,000,000+ 03,300,000 3,300,000+ North Africa (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara)
3 Arabian Desert Subtropical Arabian Desert.png 02,330,000 2,330,000[1] 00,900,000 900,000 Western Asia (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen)
4 Gobi Desert cold winter Gobi.png 01,300,000 1,000,000 00,500,000 500,000 Central Asia (China and Mongolia)
5 Kalahari Desert Subtropical Kalahari.png 00,900,000 900,000[2] 00,360,000 360,000 Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa)
6 Great Victoria Desert Subtropical IBRA 6.1 Great Victoria Desert.png 00,647,000 647,000[3] 00,250,000 220,000 Australia
7 Patagonian Desert Cold Winter Patagonian.png 00,673,000 620,000 00,260,000 200,000 South America (Argentina and Chile)
8 Syrian Desert Subtropical Syrian Desert.png 00,520,000 520,000[3] 00,200,000 200,000 Western Asia (Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey)
9 Great Basin Desert Cold Winter Greatbasinmap.png 00,492,000 492,000[3] 00,190,000 190,000 United States
10 Chihuahuan Desert Subtropical Chihuahua desert.jpg 00,450,000 450,000[3] 00,175,000 175,000 North America (Mexico and United States)
11 Great Sandy Desert Subtropical Australia deserts.PNG 00,400,000 400,000[3] 00,150,000 150,000 Australia
12 Karakum Desert Cold Winter Karakum.png 00,350,000 350,000[3] 00,135,000 135,000 Turkmenistan
13 Colorado Plateau Cold Winter Four corners.jpg 00,337,000 337,000[3] 00,130,000 130,000 United States
14 Sonoran Desert Subtropical Mojave-sonoran deserts.png 00,310,000 310,000[3] 00,120,000 120,000 North America (Mexico and United States)
15 Kyzyl Kum Cold Winter Kyzyl Kum.png 00,300,000 300,000[3] 00,115,000 115,000 Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan)
16 Taklamakan Desert Cold Winter Taklamakan.png 00,270,000 270,000 00,105,000 105,000 China
17 Thar Desert Subtropical Thar Desert satellite.jpg 00,200,000 200,000[4] 00,077,000 77,000 South Asia (India and Pakistan)
18 Gibson Desert Subtropical IBRA 6.1 Gibson Desert.png 00,155,000 156,000[5] 00,060,000 60,000 Australia
19 Dashti Margo Subtropical Kavir.png 00,150,000 150,000 00,058,000 58,000 Afghanistan
20 Registan Desert Subtropical Kavir.png 00,146,000 146,000 00,056,400 56,400 Afghanistan
21 Simpson Desert Subtropical Simpson-Desert-2007-12-16-NASA.jpg 00,145,000 145,000[3] 00,056,000 56,000 Australia
22 Atacama Desert Cool Coastal Atacama.png 00,140,000 140,000[3] 00,054,000 54,000 South America (Chile and Peru)
23 Mojave Desert Subtropical Mojave-sonoran deserts.png 00,124,000 124,000[6][7] 00,048,000 48,000 United States
24 Namib Desert Cool Coastal Namib desert MODIS.jpg 00,081,000 81,000[3] 00,031,000 31,000 Southern Africa (Angola and Namibia)
25 Dasht-e Kavir Subtropical Kavir.png 00,077,000 77,000[8] 00,030,000 30,000 Iran
26 Dasht-e Lut Subtropical Dasht-e Lut Iran 2006-02-28 ISS012-E-18779.jpg 00,052,000 52,000[8] 00,020,000 20,000 Iran

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Arabian Desert". Retrieved 2007-12-28. 
  2. ^ Bass, Karen (2009-02-01). "Nature's Great Events:The Okavango Delta, Kalahari Desert" (PDF). press.uchicago.edu. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2012-04-26. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Largest Desert in the World". Retrieved 2011-12-27. 
  4. ^ Thar Desert - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  5. ^ "Interesting facts about Western Australia". landgate.wa.gov.au. Western Australian Land Information Authority. Retrieved 2012-04-26. 
  6. ^ "Mapping Perennial Vegetation Cover in the Mojave Desert" (PDF). pubs.usgs.gov. USGS Western Geographic Science Center. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2012-04-08. 
  7. ^ "Recoverability and Vulnerability of Desert Ecosystems". http://mojave.usgs.gov/. USGS. 2006-03-03. Retrieved 2012-04-14. 
  8. ^ a b Wright, John W., ed. (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 456. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "nyt" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).