Drifting Through The Desert Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dune

Sand dunes are found in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the path taken by wind or water. For example, linear dunes look like giant lines of sand, while crescent-shaped dunes look like half moons across the desert. Dunes are often found in coastal areas to help protect the inland land from sea storms, but are also found in interior deserts.

Answer: Sand

In comparison to other substances in size, sand is larger than silt, but smaller than gravel. Geologists, scientists who study earth forms, identify sand particles as being  1/16 mm to 2 mm in size; a single particle of sand is called a grain. The most common materials that make sand are silica, usually made from quartz, and calcium carbonate, which is made over millions of years from the shells of sea animals and coral.

Answer: Cactus

Many different cactus plants (plural cacti) can survive in the desert with very little water. They have stems that store moisture, and a root system that spreads out over a wide area to absorb water after rainfall. Did you ever wonder why a cactus has so many spines? Ouch! Well, one reason is to keep animals that eat plants away, but the others are to reduce the flow of air close to the plant, which allows it to maintain a level of moisture, and provide shade.

Answer: Oasis

Formed by the presence of underground water, an oasis can be the result of either natural or man-made occurrences which cause the water to reach the surface of the land. The presence of an oasis (or plural oases) is very important in desert regions where there is otherwise very little plant or animal life; in fact, some oases are large enough to support settlement and farming.

Answer: Dust Devil

While dust devils look very much like tornadoes, they are typically nowhere as destructive. They are formed when hot air near the surface of the land quickly rises through cooler air. Under the correct conditions, the air will begin to rotate and form a column. Known by many different names in different regions, a dust devil in Australia is known as a "willy-willy" or "whirly-whirly", and in Saudi Arabia is called a "djin", which means devil or genie.

Answer: Erg

According to geologists, an erg is an area in the desert that contains at least forty-eight square miles of sand, where the sand covers at least 20% of the surface. There are ergs located in all the world's deserts, as well as deserts that are known to exist on other planets.

In the Sahara, the largest hot desert on earth, the Issaouane Erg is estimated to cover over 14,000 square miles of land, so it is literally a sea of sand!

Answer: Polar

Polar deserts are located in the Arctic of the northern hemisphere and the Antarctic of the southern hemisphere. They are located in areas that have less than ten inches of rain per year and have a mean temperature of less than 50°F during the warmest months.

While some areas of tundra that are considered to be deserts can support life, polar deserts just have layer upon layer of ice. Did you know that most of Antarctica is a polar desert? In fact, it is considered to be the largest desert in the world!

Answer: Arroyo

An arroyo, which is Spanish for "brook", is called a "wadi" in the Arabic language. The only time the arroyo will fill with water is when there is a thunderstorm which causes a flash flood in the desert. This provides an important source of water for desert animals who have adapted to the otherwise dry environment.

Answer: Arid

About a third of the land area in the world is considered to be either arid or semi-arid. An arid region receives less than ten inches of rainfall a year, while a semi-arid area will receive 10-20 inches of rain annually. Usually a semi-arid territory is found on the edge of an arid place. People must be very careful about settling and farming in semi-arid places because a few years without rain can turn a semi-arid region into an arid one.

Answer: Hoodoo

Interesting rock protrusions caused by wind, water, and frost erosion, hoodoos can either be as tall as a human or a several-storied building. They usually occur in formations where there is a thick layer of soft rock, such as mudstone, that is covered by a thin layer or a harder rock, such as basalt or limestone. If you are interested in seeing examples of these formations, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Đavolja Varos in Serbia, or the Cappadocia region of Turkey would be good places to visit.