Deserted Deserts
Sand Camel and Jack Scorpion
Period 7
Earth Science Honors
Dr. Houghton
Dec 22, 2010
Glossary
Great Basin
Great Victoria

Perennial

Mallee

Annual

Lunettes

Semi-Arid Desert

Hot Desert
Figure 1. Great Basin Desert
(thegreatsitting.com 2004)
Figure 2. The Great Victoria Desert (Exprim Tours
Australia 2003)
Objective/Purpose
The purpose of this project is to acquire information about
deserts precisely the Great Basin Desert and the Great
Victoria Desert, as well as informing viewers about
specific factors such as:
 Physical Features
 Impact of human activity
 Abiotic and biotic factors and their effects
 Brief historical background
Location
Figure 3. Location of Great Basin Desert and Great Victoria Desert in the world (Geology.com 2010)
Introduction: Great Basin
Desert
 Location: USA (nps.gov 2009)
 Latitude and Longitude:
40°N & 117°W (MapXL 2010)
 190,000 Square Miles (nps.gov 2009)
Figure 4. Close up view of the Great
Basin Desert Location in the U.S.
(nps.gov 2009)
 Semi-Arid Desert (EnchantedLeaning.com 2010)
Introduction: Great Basin
Desert Cont.
 History:
 Desert formation
 Past residents
 Temperature & Climate:
Figure 5. Fremont Indian Cave Drawing (Eddins
2010)
 Precipitation: 7-12 inches
 Average Temperature: 61 degrees
(nps.gov 2009)
SUPRISING FACT!
First North American transcontinental railroad
Figure 6. First North American Transcontinental railroad
route (Gemstone 2010)
Figure 7. The train from the first
North American transcontinental
railroad
Introduction: Great
Victoria Desert
 Location: Australia (Bradtkse 2010)
 Latitude and Longitude: 29°S & 126°E
(Mapsofworld.com 2008)
 Stretches 450 miles from South State to Western State
(Bradtkse 2010)
 Hot Desert (Bradtkse 2010)
Figure 8. Exact location highlighted of Great Victoria
Desert in Australia (Anwar 2010)
Introduction: Great
Victoria Desert Cont.
 History:
 Desert Formation
 Residents
 Temperature & Climate:
Figure 9. The Great Victoria Desert (World
Wildlife Fund 2010)
 Precipitation: 200 – 250 mm per year
 Temperature: Winter 20-25°C
Summer 90-105 °F
SUPRISING FACTS!
 Origin of the Great Victoria Desert name
Figure .10 Queen Victoria of Great
Britain (Mackey 2008)
Figure 11. Ernest Giles (ANU
2006)
Method and Materials
 Method: All of the information and figures were
collected from online sources. The notes were then
gathered and organized to construct an informational
PowerPoint about the Great Basin Desert and the Great
Victoria Desert.
 Materials:
Laptops from the GHS mobile cart
Microsoft Office PowerPoint
Numerous websites online
• Mountains
• Playas
• Watersheds
(Nussbaum 2010)
Great Victoria Desert
Great Basin Desert
Landforms
• Grasslands
• Sand hills
• Salt Lakes
(GFDL 2005)
The Earth-Sci Times
www.earthsvcirox.com
THE WORLD’S CHOICE OF INFORMATION
- Since The Beginning of Time
Great Basin to have ‘rocky’ battle
with surrounding mountains?
-One
of many abiotic
factors that could
affect the Great
Basin desert.
-Picture Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Stell
a_Lake_Great_Basin.jpg
Figure 12. The Great Basin
Desert(Wikimedia 2010)
Great Basin Desert
Organisms
Producers
• Soil
• Bacteria
• Plants
Figure 13. Sagebrush
(Wegner 2010)
Consumers
• Mule Deer
• Pronghorn
• Antelope
Figure 14. Mule Deer
(Wallpaper.searchrealm.com
2010)
• Dung Beetle
• Fungi
Decomposers
• Over 40 species
of termites
(Biology.ed.ac.uk 2010)
Figure 15. Dung Beetle (Red planet
Inc. 2010)
Great Basin Biotic Factors
 Cheatgrass (annual)
 Replace many perennial grasses
 Fire risk
Figure 16. Cheatgrass (m.montana.edu 2007)
(Biology.ed.ac.uk 2010)
Impact of Human Society
on The Great Basin Desert
 Developments
 Populated areas
compared to Great
Victoria Desert
Figure 17. Las Vegas Sign (Isle B. Stitching
2009)
Great Victoria’s
Abiotic Affects
Transformation to biotic life
Figure 18. Great Victoria
Desert After Rainfall
(www.terrain.org 2010)
Great Victoria Desert
Organisms
• Plants
Producers
Figure 19. Hummock (cossa 2010)
Consumers
• Reptiles
• Thornbills
• Buzzards
• Fungi
Decomposers • Bacteria
Figure 20. Thornbill (Ozanimals.com
2010)
Impact of
Humans on
The Great
Victoria Desert
•Tourists
•Feral Animals
•Nuclear Testing
Areas
Conclusion
 Similarities and Differences between the two deserts
 Impact of Humans on these terrains
 Physical features and formation of deserts
Works Cited
"Australia Latitude and Longitude, Latitude and Longitude of Australia, Australia Latitude, Latitude/Longitude of Australia, Australia Longitude, Latitude and
Longitude of Important Cities of Australia." World Map, Map of the World. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/australia/australia-lat-long-
g.html>.
"Australia Map." GMT: Greenwich Mean Time - World Time / Time in Every Time Zone. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/timezone/australia/map.htm>.
Bird. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.cossa.csiro.au/hswww/oz_pi/hyperweb/gislayers/Kun8.htm>.
Cropweeds. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.ipm.montana.edu/cropweeds/Extension/weed%20species%20-not%20every%20file%20is%20here/Downy%20brome.htm>.
"Desert Animal Printouts - EnchantedLearning.com." ENCHANTED LEARNING HOME PAGE. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/desert/desert.shtml>.
Desert. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.terrain.org/articles/16/cribb_latham_ryder.htm>.
Deserts. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040278b.htm>.
Digital image. Cottonwood. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.thefurtrapper.com/images/Fremont%20Cottonwood%20Panel.jpg>.
Digital image. Great Victoria Desert. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.thegreatsitting.com/mikejournal/archives/000026.html>.
Digital image. Great Victoria. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21695174>.
Digital image. Http://www.desertmuseum.org/desert/habitats_GBasinDes.php. Web.
Digital image. Web. <http://jmackey68.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/breaking-news-victoria-dead/>.
Dung Beetles. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.cirrusimage.com/beetles_dung.htm>.
"Encyclopedia.stateuniversity." Great Basin. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/9082/Great-Basin.html#ixzz0jxVfBi67>.
"GREAT BASIN DESERT." Biological Sciences Home | School of Biological Sciences. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research/groups/jdeacon/desbiome/basin.htm>.
Great Basin. Digital image. Http://www.desertmuseum.org/desert/habitats_GBasinDes.php. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.
Great Basin. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.exprim.com.au/gvd.php>.
"Great Basin National Park - History & Culture (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.nps.gov/grba/historyculture/index.htm>.
Great Basin. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <Great Basin - Geology, Flora and Fauna, History, Present Habitation http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/9082/GreatBasin.html#ixzz0jxW48ZXD>.
Works Cited Cont.
"Great Victoria Desert, Australia - The Largest Desert In Australia." The Real Australian Outback - An Outback Australia Travel Guide. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/great-victoria-desert.html>.
Great Victoria Desert. Digital image. Http://rehmananwar.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-victoria-desert.html. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.
"Great Victoria Desert Geology." Diamantina Outback Information Tours Australian Expeditions Holidays. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://www.diamantina-
tour.com.au/outback_info/deserts/great_victoria/great_victoria_geology.asp>.
Industrial Trains. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.theworldwonders.com/industrial-trans-railroad.html>.
Las Vegas. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://islebstitching.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/viva-las-vegas/>.
Mule Dear. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://wallpaper.searchrealm.com/Deer-Elk/mule-deer1.html>.
Plants. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?
t=1&m=1&c=34&s=264&ai=67339&arch=y&ssd=3/1/2008%2012:01:00%20PM>.
"Plants." Schools on the Web. Web. 06 Apr. 2010. <http://www.schools.ash.org.au/wyongps/plants.htm>.
Queen Victoria. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://jmackey68.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/breaking-news-victoria-dead/>.
Shrubs. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.raydw.com/shrubs.htm>.
"StateMaster - Encyclopedia: Great Victoria Desert." StateMaster - US Statistics, State Comparisons. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://www.statemaster.com/
encyclopedia/Great-Victoria-Desert>.
Stella Lake. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Stella_Lake_Great_Basin.jpg>.
"Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Great Victoria Desert (AA1305)." National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet Since 1888. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/aa/aa1305.html>.
Thornbill. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://www.ozanimals.com/Bird/Brown-Thornbill/Acanthiza/pusilla.html>.
"USGS Geology in the Parks." Western Region Geology and Geophysics Science Center. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/province/
basinrange.html>.
World Map. Digital image. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. <http://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml>.
"Www.mrnussbaum.com - USA Landforms: Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, Sonoran Desert, Missouri River, Chihuahuan Desert, Cascades Range."
Www.mrnussbaum.com - A Thousand Sites in One; Math Games, Educational Games, Science Games, Vocabulary Games, Social Studies Games and Much More!
Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <http://www.mrnussbaum.com/landforms.htm>.
Acknowledgements
The sun
Lipton Green Tea
Our Parents
THE END