• Question: why do some areas turn to desert?

    Asked by to Sarah, Amelia on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Amelia Frizell-Armitage

      Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Some areas can turn to desert by a process called desertification. This usually happens when areas of the world that are dry anyway with not much rain lose all their vegetation (plant life). Vegetation can be lost by natural processes, for example climate change, or human activity when forests are cut down, or areas are cleared for farming.

      The plants that live in an area play a very important role in making sure the soil has a good structure (stays together), and contains lots of nutrients. When all the plants are removed the amount of soil erosion massively increases as there is no longer plant cover to protect it from weather like wind and rain. In an area that is dry anyway all the erosion results in infertile areas of sand-like soil on which nothing can be grown. This land is now desert.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Even the Sahara desert is still getting bigger!

      The arctic counts as a desert too, Put simply this happens when almost the plants are removed from an area of land, and this causes big consequences for the other life there.

      Perhaps this highlights quite how important plants are for our world!

Comments