Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The Tropical Environment
- Part II Process geomorphology in the tropics
- 5 Weathering in the tropics
- 6 Slopes: forms and processes
- 7 Rivers in the tropics
- 8 Alluvial valleys
- 9 Large rivers in the tropics
- 10 The tropical coasts
- 11 Deltas in the tropics
- 12 The arid tropics
- 13 Tropical highlands
- 14 Volcanic landforms
- 15 Tropical karst
- 16 Quaternary in the tropics
- Part III Anthropogenic changes
- References
- Index
- Plate section
12 - The arid tropics
from Part II - Process geomorphology in the tropics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The Tropical Environment
- Part II Process geomorphology in the tropics
- 5 Weathering in the tropics
- 6 Slopes: forms and processes
- 7 Rivers in the tropics
- 8 Alluvial valleys
- 9 Large rivers in the tropics
- 10 The tropical coasts
- 11 Deltas in the tropics
- 12 The arid tropics
- 13 Tropical highlands
- 14 Volcanic landforms
- 15 Tropical karst
- 16 Quaternary in the tropics
- Part III Anthropogenic changes
- References
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
The low and level sands stretch far away.
P. B. ShelleyArid areas
The tropics are not green and humid everywhere. Semi-arid and arid climates prevail over about half of the tropics. Apart from a significant moisture deficiency, the arid tropics are also characterised by high temperature, a high diurnal range of temperature, a theoretically very high rate of evaporation (potential evapotranspiration > actual evapotranspiration) and extreme variability in rainfall. Ground cover is limited to low and scattered vegetation, and even this is absent from the extremely arid areas.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tropical Geomorphology , pp. 209 - 231Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011