Mysterious Sahara
The Sahara Desert covers about one-third of the African continent. It is four thousand eight hundred kilometers or three thousand miles wide in the east-west and one thousand eight hundred kilometers or one thousand miles wide in the north-south. The total area of the Sahara Desert is 92 million square kilometers or 36 million square miles, which is equal to the size of the United States or China. The Sahara Desert is located in about 12 countries. The countries are Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. How it came to be: Scientists claim that the entire African continent is located on a tectonic plate. In the past, the Tethys Sea was between Africa and Europe. The tectonic plate motion about 40 million years ago caused it to move northward, uniting Africa and Europe. As a result, the northern part of Africa narrows and rises far above sea level. Gradually the water receded, and the area turned into a desert.
Memories of the sea in the heart of the Sahara: Wadi al-Hitan is the name of a part of the Sahara desert, just one and a half hundred kilometers from the Egyptian capital Cairo. In Arabic, ‘Wadi al-Hitan’ means valley of whales. Fossils of the Doradan species, which became extinct about 36 million years ago, are found here. The Sahara Desert’s greatest proof was a vast ocean in the past is this ‘Wadi Al Hitan.’ So far, most of the world’s fossils have been found here.
Aragona of life in the Sahara: Looking at the Sahara desert, it seems green has been removed from nature. But many times, the Sahara desert has come to life even after it has become a desert from the sea. Every 20,000 years, the Sahara desert turns into a wetland and grassland because the earth tilts slightly to its north every 20,000 years on its axis. As a result, the direction of the earth’s monsoon winds changes. At that time, due to heavy rainfall in the Sahara Desert, the region turned green.
The last time humans and animals lived in the Sahara was five to seven thousand years ago. The idea is that the day Sahara will come alive again: It is thought that after 15,000 years, the Sahara desert will turn green again. The Sahara is the largest dune in the world. This desert sand can cover the whole earth 8 inches thick. Once a sandstorm starts in the Sahara, it can last up to four days at a time.
Small sandhills form a lot of sand that flows with this sand storm. Sandstones can be as high as a 15-story building. The sandhills created by desert storms are not permanent. These move up to about 50 feet a year. Al Azizia in the Sahara Desert in Libya has recorded the highest temperature ever recorded at 58 degrees Celsius.
Every year, the Sahara desert winds from the coast of Africa carry dust and create havoc. But this year, the issue is going to be more terrible. A recent NASA satellite image shows a 2,000-mile-long dust storm approaching the Americas.
That dust storm is currently hovering over the North Atlantic Ocean. But part of its tail is still not clear. As a result, if it crosses the sea, its size could be about five thousand miles.
An official of a private meteorological agency said, ‘This is an incredible dust storm. About a week ago, satellite images first showed that dust storms had begun to arrive off the coast of Africa. But that time was about a week ago. The last part of that storm is still on the coast. That means it’s huge. If it does, it could wreak havoc in parts of North and South America. People who have trouble breathing can be particularly affected by this dust.
In general, the warm air of the desert region carries dust and sand particles from the surface at high speed. As the amount of dust and sand particles gradually increases, severe dust storms occur. In the desert part of Rajasthan in India, this type of dust storm is called a storm. As a result, the sky is covered with a sheet of dust like a black cloud. As long as America is going, this dust storm is heard to be increasing. As a result, the desert is gradually increasing its area.