Speaking of Sahara

The Sahara, the largest desert on Earth, is the warmest place on the planet. Incredible, though, is the fact that the Tethys Ocean was in place of this desert millions of years ago. Today I will learn how the sea has become the largest desert in the world. Deserts cover a large part of the earth. This stretch from the desert of China to the desert of America is called the Desert Belt. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world located in this desert belt. It is about three times the size of the whole of India. The Sahara Desert is spread across 12 countries. The countries are Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. The entire African continent is located on a tectonic plate of the earth. In the past, between Africa and Europe was the Tethys Ocean. Forty million years ago, tectonic plates moved northward, merging Africa and Europe. As a result, northern Africa shrinks and rises far above sea level. Gradually the water receded and the area turned into a desert. Wadi Al Hitan is a part of the Sahara Desert, just 150 kilometers from the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Wadi al-Hitan in Arabic means valley of whales. Fossil whales of the extinct Dradan species have been found here about 36 million years ago. Wadi al-Hitan is the greatest proof that the Sahara desert was the sea in the past. So far most of the world's fossils have been found here. Looking at the Sahara Desert, it would seem that green has been removed from nature. But many times the Sahara desert has come alive after it turned from the sea to the desert. Every 20,000 years, the Sahara desert turns into a wetland and grassland. This is because the earth tilts slightly to its north every 20,000 years in its own orbit. This changes the direction of the earth's monsoon winds. And just at that time, due to heavy rainfall in the Sahara desert, the region turned green. The last 5 to 6 thousand years ago, people and animals lived in the Sahara region. The idea is that after 15,000 years, the Sahara desert will turn green again. The Sahara is the largest sand dune in the world. The sand of this desert can cover the whole earth 6 inches thick. Once a sandstorm starts in the Sahara, it can last up to four days in a row. Small sand hills form a lot of sand that comes with this sand storm. These sand hills can be as high as a 15-storey building. The sand hills created by desert storms are not permanent. These move up to about 50 feet a year. Al Aziziya in the Sahara Desert in Libya has so far recorded the highest temperature on Earth at 56 degrees Celsius. Just as it is difficult to live in the warmest place on our planet, it is just as difficult to live permanently in Antarctica, the coldest place on our planet.