Exam 14: Deserts and Wind

__________ dunes are common in moist semiarid regions and along the seacoast.

Vast tropical forests grow near the equator because:

Sand grains are transported by wind close to the ground in a bouncing movement called __________.

Most dunes are symmetrical.

Buttes and mesas are common in the Colorado Plateau because:

__________ is a continuous cover of stones left behind when wind blows silt and sand away.

Any region that receives less than 25 centimeters of rain per year is considered to be a __________.

The growth of a desert by human mismanagement is called __________.

Deserts never occur along coastlines.

A dune that accumulates as long ridges that align perpendicularly to the prevailing wind is a __________ dune.

Desertification in the Sahel in the late 1960s and early 1970s probably happened because of:

In the Great Basin of the western United States:

When a barchan dune migrates, the edges move more slowly because there is more sand to transport.

A __________ is a desert lake bed that is dry most of the year.

A/an __________ is a flat-topped mountain shaped like a table common to the Colorado Plateau.

Wind erodes sand:

The leeward side of a dune is called the __________ face.

Wind erosion, called __________, is a selective process in which the wind moves only small particles, such as silt and sand.

Many of the world's largest deserts lie at about 30° north and south of the equator.

Rainfall patterns and deserts have no direct relationship to tectonic activity.