Earth Dunes - Dune Worlds: How Windblown Sand Shapes Planetary Landscapes - page 119

Fig. 11.6

SeaWIFS image of the Arabian peninsula, showing the sweeping sand pathways of the Rub' Al Khali. Image NASA

to 300 m (980 ft) in height, and up to 32 km (20 mi) long,
second in size only to the draa dunes in the Badain Jaran
desert of China.

the Kalahari is a semi-arid savanna, with considerable
diversity in vegetation, plus wildlife that exist within the
available vegetation cover. Perhaps some of the best known
animals that live in the Kalihari are the meerkats, rodents that
stand on their hind legs to scan the area surrounding their
dens. The desert is located within the Kalahari Basin, which
encompasses 2.5 million km 2 in Botswana and portions of
neighboring Namibia and South Africa. Average annual
rainfall ranges from 80 to 190 mm throughout the desert.
Summer temperatures range from 20 to 45 C, with local
maximums of up to 50 C.

11.3.6 Kalahari

There are at least two possible origins for the name of this
African desert. In the Tswana language, the word 'Kgala'
means 'the great thirst', while the word 'Khalagari' means 'a
waterless place'. Either way, you get the picture! Actually,