Desert Sonora: description, history and interesting facts

What is a beautiful desert and how to appreciate this beauty? But, after looking at the pictures of the Sonoran desert made by those who visited there, you realize that she is really beautiful! Its undulating terrain, unusual vegetation, represented by a variety of forms of trees and shrubs, its diversity of cacti is amazing. Today's excursion around it and photos in the article will confirm - the desert is beautiful!

World of the Desert

The sandy-rocky desert of Sonora lies in the subtropical zone from the southwest of the USA to the northwest of Mexico, covering part of the Great Basin of the lower reaches of the Colorado River and faceted (otherwise you will not say) gently sloping and steep mountains. At the foot of the mountains lies sand, washed away by powerful streams of air from the slopes of the mountains down, forming bayadas, which in Spanish means "slopes". The landscape of the desert is heterogeneous. About ¼ of the desert is occupied by low hills and small mountains. Depending on the counting technique used to determine large areas, the sources show different values of the desert area, but not less than 260 square kilometers. Km and not more than 355 sq. Km. Km. The Sonoran desert is so great that it is sometimes spoken of as a group of deserts with the names Hume, Juha, Colorado and others.

Climate

The climate of the desert is severe. Precipitation rarely occurs. During the winter, rains come from December to March. Neighborhood of the desert with mountains and the ocean formed over the desert a kind of summer weather with squalls of torrential rains and thunderstorms raging from July to September. The moisture in the desert is not delayed due to the high temperature of the air and the water evaporates quickly. The temperature is always positive, even in the winter months it can be + 30 ° C, with a maximum summer + 40 ° C. But the average daily temperature amplitude is great: from + 40 ° C in the daytime to + 2 ° C at night.

Flora of the desert

The two-season pattern of precipitation in the Sonora desert leads to an increase in the number of plant species in it more than in any other desert in the world. There are plant genera and species from the family Agave, Palm family, family of cacti, family of legumes and many others. The desert is the only place in the world where the famous saguaro cactus grows, a fishing hook, a prickly pear, a night blooming organ and an organ tube. Cacti provide food for many mammals and desert birds. They look very impressive during flowering, covered with red, pink, yellow and white flowers. Most often the flowering of cacti from late March to June, depending on the type of cactus and seasonal temperatures. Wildflowers of the Sonora desert include deserted verbena sand, a deserted sunflower and evening primroses. All plants have long roots, with which they search for water, plunging into the soil for tens of meters.

Interesting fact

Scientists at the University of Arizona, conducting research on the existence of life in virtually lifeless and hot deserts, made an astonishing discovery. In the layers of lifeless, seemingly sandy, there lives a huge number of bacteria - microorganisms that raise the temperature of the soil surface by 10 ° C by way of its vital activity. Since the deserts cover more than 20% of the planet's surface, the conclusions come by themselves that microorganisms of the desert play an important role in the global thermal regime of the planet. Sonora is no exception in this process. The more microorganisms in the soils and sands of the desert, the darker the layers of desert soils become. Microorganisms secrete in the process of vital activity of scytomine in the soil. It is he who makes the soil dark, and it happens due to the absorption of waves of green and yellow sunlight.

Crack in the Sonoran Desert

As noted above, natural phenomena and microorganisms affect the changes that occur on the planet. Heavy precipitation, especially after a drought, and tropical storms contribute to the formation of cracks, while artificial cracks can be caused by intensive pumping groundwater to protect agriculture, conduct exploration drilling and excavations. That is, a person does not stand aside, thanks to his activity, a rift in the American desert of Sonora, discovered 16 kilometers from Pikachsky State Park of Arizona, could have occurred. It was in this area that a vast diversion of groundwater in the desert was made.

The first cracks appeared on the territory of the Sonora desert in 1929. There are quite a lot of them at the moment in the desert. In 2013, the Geological Survey of Arizona recorded another crack 5 kilometers long, dividing the surface of the desert near the hills of Tator. By 2014, the crack increased due to strong autumn rains. Geologists believe that the southern part of the crack is more recent, and it is believed that it could be an underground void that reached the surface after the monsoon in 2016.

Such faults are dangerous for people and SUVs, so in the event of a fault, the Arizona State Geological Survey always warns local residents of the danger.

House in the desert

It would seem, who wants to live in the desert? But there are those who want to build a house on the open and arid, mystical landscapes, in the desert of Sonora. Rocky mountains and giant cacti, creating an alien view, provide an opportunity to relax from the bustle of cities, to leave the stone jungle, plunged into the living nature of the desert.

The architectural bureau DUST helps to realize the most ambitious desires of its clients. In the design of a particular house, the requirement of construction customers was to minimize the physical impact of the house on its environment. At the same time, it was necessary to create a place that would serve as a backdrop for life and strengthen the connections of residents with an impressive mystical landscape. Therefore, the architects selected a site that is far from the migration routes of animals, where it will be blown the least by the winds. To provide residents with drinking water, a rainwater filtration system is installed and collected and stored.

Parking is located at a distance of 120 meters from the house, which makes it possible to walk along a pedestrian path through a group of high cacti that close the house. The internal layout of the house provides an opportunity for family members to communicate in shared rooms, the house also provides for individual personal space for each member of the family. Sometimes it's worth it to be alone ...