- Location: Central Asia, spanning parts of Mongolia and China.
- Size: Approximately 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles).
- Climate: Temperate continental, with hot summers and cold winters. Temperatures can reach up to 40°C (104°F) in summer and drop below -30°C (-22°F) in winter.
- Terrain: The Gobi Desert consists of vast stretches of sand dunes, rocky outcrops, and gravel plains. It also features mountain ranges and isolated oases.
- Vegetation: Sparse vegetation, including desert shrubs, grasses, and some drought-resistant plants.
- Wildlife: The Gobi Desert is home to various wildlife species, including gazelles, wild camels, wolves, foxes, and numerous bird species.
- Human settlement: The Gobi Desert is sparsely populated, with nomadic herders and small settlements scattered throughout.
- Economic activities: Livestock grazing, mining (copper, coal, and gold), and tourism are the primary economic activities in the Gobi Desert.
Arabian Desert
- Location: Middle East, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
- Size: Approximately 2.5 million square kilometers (965,000 square miles).
- Climate: Hot desert climate, characterized by extremely high temperatures and low precipitation. Summer temperatures can exceed 50°C (122°F), and annual rainfall is minimal.
- Terrain: The Arabian Desert consists of vast sand seas (erg), including the Empty Quarter (Rub al Khali), gravel plains (serir), and rocky plateaus (hamada).
- Vegetation: Extremely sparse vegetation, with scattered desert plants adapted to arid conditions, such as cacti, acacias, and desert grasses.
- Wildlife: The Arabian Desert is home to various wildlife species, including gazelles, Arabian oryx, sand cats, desert foxes, and numerous bird species.
- Human settlement: The Arabian Desert is sparsely populated, with most settlements located along the coasts and oases.
- Economic activities: Oil and gas production, agriculture (in irrigated areas), and tourism are the primary economic activities in the Arabian Desert.
Key Differences:
- Size: The Arabian Desert is roughly twice the size of the Gobi Desert.
- Climate: The Arabian Desert has an extreme hot desert climate, while the Gobi Desert has a temperate continental climate with colder winters.
- Vegetation: The Arabian Desert has extremely sparse vegetation compared to the Gobi Desert, which has a slightly more diverse range of desert plants.
- Human Settlement: The Arabian Desert is more sparsely populated than the Gobi Desert, which has some areas of nomadic herding and small settlements.
- Economic Activities: Oil and gas production play a significant role in the Arabian Desert's economy, while livestock grazing and mining are more prominent in the Gobi Desert.