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Cold deserts, sometimes known as temperate deserts, occur at higher latitudes than hot deserts, and the aridity is caused by the dryness of the air. Some cold deserts are far from the ocean and others are separated by mountain ranges from the sea, and in both cases, there is insufficient moisture in the air to cause much precipitation.
Aridisols (or desert soils) are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. [1] Aridisols (from the Latin aridus , for "dry", and solum ) form in an arid or semi-arid climate. Aridisols dominate the deserts and xeric shrublands , which occupy about one-third of the Earth's land surface.
Cold desert climates are typically located in temperate zones in the 30s and 40s latitudes, usually in the leeward rain shadow of high mountains, restricting precipitation from the westerly winds. An example of this is the Patagonian Desert in Argentina, bounded by the Andes ranges to its west.
Grasslands and temperate deserts ZB VIII Boreal, cold temperate with cool summers and long winters Podsols Evergreen, frost-hardy, needle-leaved forest ZB IX Polar, short, cool summers and long, cold winters Tundra humus soils with solifluction (permafrost soils) Low, evergreen vegetation, without trees, growing over permanently frozen soils
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. [1] Deserts and xeric ( Ancient Greek ξηρός xērós 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth 's land surface area. [ 2 ]
The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. [4]
The Sonoran desert wraps around the northern end of the Gulf of California, from Baja California Sur (El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve in central and Pacific west coast, Central Gulf Coast subregion on east to southern tip), north through much of Baja California, excluding the central northwest mountains and Pacific west coast, through southeastern California and southwestern and southern ...
The lowest-elevation biotic zone in the Sierra Nevada is found along the boundary with the Central Valley. [5] This zone, stretching in elevation from 500 to 3,500 feet (150 to 1,070 m), is the foothill woodland zone, an area that is hot and dry in the summer with very little or no snow in the winter. [5]