Why Is A Desert Dry?

Deserts cover nearly a fifth of the earth’s surface.  We would probably describe a desert as a hot, barren land where it hardly ever rains—a land so dry that few plants can grow on it, and where other

Dry Desert

forms of life also find it difficult to exits.  The desert we have just described occupies nearly a fifth of the earth’s land surface.  Large deserts can be found in all of the continents except Europe.

The driest and hottest deserts are found in the trade wind zones north and south of the Equator.  Deserts in these areas, such as the Sahara Desert of North Africa, are dry even though they may be near the ocean waters.  Here the winds blow across the desert toward the Equator and become very hot and dry, and release little of their moisture as rain.

Some deserts are dry because they are so far from the sea that the winds blowing in from the ocean lose their moisture long before they reach these deserts.  And in many cases, desert regions are cut off from the moisture laden sea air by tall mountains that catch the rainfall on their seaward side. – Dick Rogers

What is the difference between a lake and a pond?

Lake

Generally, a pond is described as a small body of still water without an outlet.  Lakes are usually much larger and deeper and often are fed by rivers and streams.  Generally, lakes differ from ponds in size.

A lake is commonly descried as a large body of water with land all around it.

A pond is usually smaller than a lake.  It is a quiet pool of water so shallow that rooted plants often grow completely across it and the bottom is usually covered with mud.

The cool water in a lake is often too deep for plants to grow except around the shore.  What people know as a pond or a lake, however, may differ from one place to another.

Pond

In some places, for example, a pond may be called a marsh.  And some large bodies of water commonly known as seas are really lakes, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea.

The “bowl” that holds a lake or pond is called the basin.  The basins of ponds and lakes may get their water from rain or be filled with water that flows into them from rivers, streams, or sometimes even from underground springs.–Dick Rogers

What is Artesian well?

Artesian Well

An artesian well needs no pump.  It spurts out of the ground like fountain.  There is more water in the world than in our oceans, lakes and streams.  A good deal of water can be found beneath the ground. 

Springs are formed when water from rain and melted snow seeps deep into the ground.  The underground water can fill the bottom of a well, or it can bubble out of the ground as a spring.

An artesian well is quite different from the ordinary well or spring.  In an ordinary well, the water must be pumped out with a pump.  An ordinary spring occurs when the underground water seeps downhill from the pull of gravity and bubbles out of the ground at some lower point.  It is only where the water gets trapped between layers of rocks or clay that artesian wells are possible.

Ask the imprisoned water collects between the layers of rock, the weight of the water may become so great that it builds up a great pressure.  When a well is dug, or if it finds a natural opening, the water gushes out without the aid of a pump or gravity.– Dick Rogers