qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert

GEOGRAPHY OF ARID LAND

NEGEV DESERT

1/24/2017

Submitted to:-

Miss Mahpara

Submitted by:-

Saba jamal din

Roll no. 8824

Class:- MSC 3rd

NEGEV DESERT

WHAT IS NEGEVTHE NEGEV IS A part of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt running from the ATLANTIC OCEAN across the SAHARA and Arabia to the Sind desert of INDIA's Indus Valley.The Negev, also spelled Negeb, means both "the southland" and "dry."

LOCATIONThe Negev Desert is located in modern day Israel, expanding nearly 4700 square miles in the small country. The broad expanse of desert is a vitally important part of the Israeli landscape, stretching over approximately 60 percent of the country's landmass, while occupying nearly half of Palestine west of the Jordan River.The Negev's borders are somewhat ambiguous, though generally recognized as being bounded by the Jordan Rift Valley on the east, the Sinai Peninsula on the west, the coastal plain in the northwest and the Judaean Hills and Wilderness of Judaea in the north and northeast, respectively. The triangular-shaped desert's apex is on the south.

GEOGRAPHY

The Negev is a rocky desert. It is a melange of brown, rocky, dusty mountains interrupted by wadis (dry riverbeds that bloom briefly after rain) and deep craters. It can be split into five different ecological regions: northern, western and central Negev, the high plateau and the Arabah Valley. The northern Negev, or Mediterranean zone, receives 300 mm of rain annually and has fairly fertile soils. The western Negev receives 250 mm of rain per year, with light and partially sandy soils. Sand dunes can reach heights of up to 30 metres here. Home to the city of Beersheba, the central Negev has an annual precipitation of 200 mm and is characterized by impervious soil, known as loess, allowing minimum penetration of water with greater soil erosion and water runoff. The high plateau area of Ramat

HaNegev , stands between 370 metres and 520 metres above sea level with extreme temperatures in summer and winter. The area gets 100 mm of rain per year, with inferior and partially salty soils. The Arabah Valley along the Jordanian border stretches 180 km from Eilat in the south to the tip of the Dead Sea in the north. The Arabah Valley is very arid with barely 50 mm of rain annually. It has inferior soils in which little can grow without irrigation and special soil additives.

FLORA AND FAUNAVegetation in the Negev is sparse, but certain trees and plants thrive there, among them Acacia, Pistacia, Retama, Urginea maritima and Thymelaea. A small population of Arabian leopards, an endangered animal in the Arabian peninsula, survives in the southern Negev. The Negev Tortoise (Testudo werneri) is a critically endangered species that currently lives only in the sands of the western and central Negev Desert. The Negev shrew (Crocidura ramona) is a species of mammal of the family Soricidae found only in Israel. Hyphaene thebaica or doum palm can be found in the Southern Negev. Evrona is the most northerly point in the world where this palm can be found.

CLIMATEThe Negev region is arid (Eilat receives on average only 24 mm of rainfall a year), receiving very little rain due to its location to the east of the Sahara (as opposed to the Mediterranean which lies to the west of Israel), and extreme temperatures due to its location 31 degrees north. However the northernmost areas of the Negev, including Beersheba, are semi-arid. The usual rainfall total from June through October is zero. Snow and frost are rare in the northern Negev, and snow and frost are unknown in the vicinity of Eilat in the southernmost Negev.

DEMOGRAPHYAs of 2010, the Negev was home to some 630,000 people (or 8.2% of Israel's population), even though it comprises over 55% of the country's landmass. 470,000 Negev residents or 75% of the population of the Negev are Jews, while 160,000 or 25% are Bedouin. Of the Bedouin population (a demographic with a semi-nomadic tradition), half live in unrecognized villages, and half live in towns built for them by the Israeli government between the 1960s and 1980s; the largest of these is Rahat.

REFERENCE:-

http://cabinflooresoterica.com/content/negev-desert.html

http://planetden.com/history/desolate-desert-greenhouse-development-negev-israel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Negev_Desert