USGS



Selected Readings



Bagnold, R. A., 1941, The physics of blown sand and desert dunes: Methuen, London, 265 p.
(A classic treatise concerning the origin and evolution of dunes.)
Breed, C. S., and others, 1979, Regional studies of sand seas, using Landsat (ERTS) imagery: in McKee, E. D., ed., A study of global sand seas: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1052, p. 305-397.
(A study of selected sand seas based on analysis of remote sensing images, surface wind summaries, and available literature.)
Cook, R. U., and Warren, Andrew, 1973, Geomorphology in deserts: University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 374 p.
(Examines the nature of landforms, soils, and geomorphological processes in the world's deserts.)
Eigeland, Tor, and others, 1982, The desert realm: National Geographic Society, Washington, 304 p.
(A well illustrated discussion of deserts of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.)
Ericksen, G. E., 1983, The Chilean nitrate deposits: American Scientist, v. 71, p. 366-374.
(A discussion of the origin of the Chilean nitrate deposits which has puzzled scientists for more than 100 years.)
Gerster, Georg, 1960, Sahara-desert of destiny: Coward-McCann, New York, 302 p.
(How plants, animals, and people survive in the Sahara.)
Greeley, Ronald, and Iversen, J. D., 1985, Wind as a geological process on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan: Cambridge University Press, New York, 333 p.
(Expands the classic work of Bagnold to discuss eolian processes in a planetary context. Describes the processes on all moons and terrestrial planets with atmospheres.)
Hare, F. K., 1983, Climate on the desert fringe: in Gardner, Ritz, and Scoging, Helen, eds., Mega-geomorphology: Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 134-151.
(The margins of many deserts are affected by tension between society and environment. This paper summarizes the climatology of arid zones.)
MacMahon, James A., 1985, Deserts: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York, 640 p.
(An Audubon Society Nature Guide to the deserts of the United States, and their inhabitants.)
McCauley, J. F., and others, 1984, Remote monitoring of processes that shape desert surfaces: The Desert Winds Project: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1634, 19 p.
(Describes a new study on collecting weather data from solar-powered data-collection platforms in deserts. The data are relayed by a GOES satellite to the USGS in Flagstaff, Arizona, and converted to graphic form.)
Meigs, Peveril, 1953, World distribution of arid and semi-arid homoclimates: in Reviews of research on arid zone hydrology: Paris, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Arid Zone Programme-1, p. 203-209.
(Classifies arid lands according to precipitation.)
Nelson, R., 1988, Dryland management: the desertification problem: Environmental Department Working Paper No. 8, Washington: World Bank, 42 p. (An excellent review of the present state of knowledge concerning desertification.) Tolba, M. K., 1984, Desertification is stoppable: Arid Lands Newsletter No. 21, p. 2-9.
(A discussion of the problems involved in preventing desertification and reclaiming arid lands.)
Walker, A.S., 1986, Eolian geomorphology: in Short, N.M., and Blair, R.W., eds., Geomorphology from space: a global overview of regional landforms: NASA SP-486, p. 447-520 (a brief review of desert processes). Warren, A. and Agnew, C., 1988, An assessment of desertification and land degradation in arid and semi-arid areas: International Institute for Environment and Development, Drylands Programme, Paper 2, London: IIED, 103 p.
(An evaluation of land degradation problems.)




The metric units used in this publication can be converted to English units by using the approximate conversions given below:

LengthAreaTemperature
1 kilometer - 0.6 of a mile1 sq. kilometer - 0.04 sq. mileTo convert °Celsius to °Fahrenheit, multiply °C by 1.8 and add 32.
To convert °Fahrenheit to °Celsius, subtract 32 from °F and divide the result by 1.8.
1 meter - 39.37 inches1 sq. meter - 1.2 sq. yards

1 centimeter - 0.4 inch1 sq. centimeter - 0.155 sq. inch



1 millimeter - 0.04 inch








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