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What color are deserts? You may say yellow or gold. However, these arid and impervious areas of the earth are dressed in extraordinary and sometimes very unusual colors. We have chosen ten of them, with evocative and spectacular landscapes, from white, to black, to red, on the whole of our planet.
White – White Sand – New Mexico, USA
This National Park is famous for its immense expanse of white sand. It is located at an altitude of about 1300 meters above sea level and has an area of 710 square kilometers. It was formed millions of years ago, when the entire area was completely covered by water that then retreated.
Black – Caldera del Corazoncillo – Lanzarote
This island of the Canary Islands has a volcanic nature and is characterized by a blackish soil. The water is very scarce and some areas of the island have a desolate and lunar appearance. For this reason they are quite similar to real black deserts.
Yellow – Gobi Desert – Asia
It is a steppe desert stretching from northern China to southern Mongolia. It includes very different geographical and ecological regions and has a generally continental climate, even if rather cold. Its sand often takes on yellowish colours.
Gold – Sahara Desert – Africa
With its 9 million square kilometres, it is the largest hot desert on Earth and the most famous of all, so much so that in Arabic its name simply means “desert”. The sand has the colour of honey and golden reflections.
Ochre – Namibian Desert – Africa
It is one of the oldest places on earth: in fact, it was formed about 80 million years ago. Its perfect dunes are famous and are protected, along with the local flora and fauna, in Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest nature reserve in Africa.
Red – Wadi Rum – Jordan
It stretches into a valley that digs the rock in the southern part of Jordan. This area is quite famous, since it has appeared in several movies including “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Red Planet” and “The Martian”.
Green – Mongolia – Asia
The steppe is in effect a desert of grass. Its name means “dry plain” and in fact the continental areas of Russia and Mongolia covered with steppe have an average annual rainfall of about 250-500 mm of rain or snow.
Rose – Death Valley National Park – California, USA
It is a depression with fiery temperatures, which is home to the lowest point of the North American continent. The dunes of this desert are colored at dawn and dusk with unusual and evocative colors, ranging from gray to pale pink.
Grey – Mount Etna – Italy
Even a country with a mild climate like Italy has a very special desert. The slopes of Mount Etna, in fact, offer views of absolute beauty – like a real desert of ash and lava rock.
Purple – Atacama Desert – Chile
It is one of the few places on earth where you can watch the desert bloom in winter. The Atacama Desert is located in northern Chile, near the Andes. It is the driest zone in the world: every year, in fact, there is an average rainfall of 0,08 mm.
