Standing in space, we will see a beautiful blue planet, which is the home earth where mankind has survived for millions of years. We are on the earth, and we cannot really understand the true appearance of the earth, but standing in space, the true appearance of the earth is clearly displayed before our eyes.
Through the huge sphere in front of us, we can see that 71% of the earth’s surface is the ocean. There are six continents distributed in all corners of the ocean. They are the Eurasian continent, the African continent, the South American continent, the North American continent, Antarctica and Australia.
For millions of years, humans have lived on these six plate continents. They only account for 29% of the earth’s surface area. Can these land areas allow humans to survive? The answer is no. In addition to some extremely harsh environments that cannot allow us to survive, nearly one-third of the land area is covered by deserts, and they basically cannot allow humans to survive.
The desert is also a beautiful landscape on the surface of the earth, but what this landscape brings us is desolation. Only 29% of the land area, of which one-third is still desert. It can be seen that the real area on the earth’s surface for human survival is not large, and with the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment in recent decades, desertification is also advancing, more The land is constantly turning into desert.
The largest desert on earth is believed to be known to many friends. It is the Sahara Desert in Africa. It covers an area of about 9.32 million square kilometers and is located in northern Africa. This area is only a little smaller than the land area of our country. The climate and environment of such a vast desert area is naturally very harsh. No one dares to really go deep into this desert. Once you walk in, there will be no return.
Not all deserts are made up of sand. There are also various rocks. The biggest part of the Sahara Desert is that most of its surface is composed of rocks and a small part is covered by sand dunes. There are various sand dunes of different heights in the desert. These dunes are not motionless, but can move.
You heard that right, sand dunes can indeed move. Of course, this does not mean that they are life. The main reason is that wind and rain provide animals and ripple the sand surface, which drives the entire dune to move continuously. In ancient times, when people didn’t know much about the desert, seeing these movable sand dunes gave some mythical color.
The movement of sand dunes also makes the environment of the desert often unpredictable. When we walk in unfamiliar places, we often remember some fixed peaks or landmarks as references, so that we will not get lost. But in the desert, this method sometimes fails. A large number of sand dunes in the desert are more obvious reference objects. If you use these dunes as reference objects to prevent getting lost, you may really get lost by then.
Often when a big sandstorm passes, the location of the dunes will change, and the surrounding desert environment will change drastically. You can’t find the southeast, northwest, and get lost. Therefore, if you walk in the desert, you will get lost if you are not careful. Unless it is people who are often rich and often walk in the desert, they can go out.
Many friends may have such a doubt about the desert: how deep is the largest Sahara Desert in the world? Scientists cannot give a definitive answer to this question. It is important to know that there are many sand dunes in the Sahara Desert that can accumulate to a height of hundreds of meters. As the sand dunes move, their thickness will also change.
Therefore, the thickness of the Sahara Desert has not yet been accurately measured, and the measurement is also very difficult. According to an estimate by scientists, the average depth of the Sahara Desert dunes is about 150 meters, and the top of the sand dunes can reach The bedrock has a depth of up to 320 meters.
The average depth of 150 meters is already very deep. If you accidentally encounter quicksand being submerged in the desert, you will basically be unable to find anything. Therefore, walking in the desert is still very dangerous. In addition to worrying about getting lost and water, it is more important not to touch the quicksand, otherwise the gods will not be able to save you.
So what will be under the thick sand? Someone once brought up an interesting topic: If all the sand in the Sahara Desert was dug up, what would we see? Some people say that they will see a lot of biological remains, and some people think that there are endless treasures under the sand. So what is under the sand? Is it really as mysterious and scary as people think?
In fact, the underside of the sand is not as mysterious as we thought. You must know that the earth is a rocky planet. Whether it is the bottom of the ocean or the bottom of the sand, it is ultimately composed of rocks. The same is true under the Sahara Desert. It is a rock layer, so besides the rock layer, what else is there?
I believe many of my friends have heard about it. Many people like to explore treasure hunting in the Sahara Desert, and some lucky ones have actually found the treasure and made a fortune. Why do so many people venture into the desert to hunt for treasure? That’s because there are really treasures in the desert, especially the Sahara Desert has many hidden treasures.
Why do you say that? To unravel this mystery, we must understand the history of the evolution of the Sahara Desert. We need to know that no desert exists by nature, but is formed due to changes in the climate and environment. Before turning into a desert, the vast area of the Sahara was a fertile oasis with a prosperous human civilization.
I believe many of my friends know that the ancestors of modern humans are Homo sapiens of Africa. You must know that millions of years ago, there were multiple branches of human beings that appeared on the earth. As time goes by, the other branches disappeared, only Homo sapiens in Africa continues to grow and evolve into modern humans step by step.
The reason why the African Homo sapiens can survive prosperously is mainly because at that time Africa was a prosperous oasis, with a pleasant climate and no shortage of food. Afterwards, the climate of Africa has undergone tremendous changes, with reduced rainfall, drought, and a large number of plants dying, and it has evolved into the desert step by step.
Of course, the evolution process of the Sahara Desert is slow. In the process of gradual evolution, some Homo sapiens went out of Africa and went to various parts of the world, while some people continued to survive in Africa and established a prosperous human civilization. Therefore, there were many countries in the Sahara area. The advancement of desertification made these countries disappear, and they were all submerged at the bottom of the sand.
Therefore, if we hollow out the sand of the Sahara Desert, you will not only see the bottom of a rock, but also many ancient civilization relics. They are precious wealth of mankind and record the development of human civilization. These relics are very important for scientists to study human history. Unfortunately, we can’t really empty the sand, and naturally we can’t make these relics reappear in the world.
How many urban remains disappeared in the desert? At present, it is difficult to give a definite number. Some ancient civilizations are even very mysterious. For example, Atlantis may also have a city in the desert and be swallowed by the desert. If we can go deep into the desert to explore in the future, we may be able to find the remains of these cities, thus revealing the mystery of some ancient civilizations.