For other uses, see Hamada (disambiguation).
A hamada (Arabic, حمادة ḥammāda) is a type of desert landscape consisting of largely barren, hard, rocky plateaus, with very little sand.[1] A hamada may sometimes also be called a reg (pronounced "rej"), though this more properly refers to a stony plain rather than a highland.[2]
Hamadas exist in contrast to ergs, which are large areas of shifting sand dunes.[3][4]
The world's largest hamada is the Hamada du Draa,[citation needed] in the northwest Sahara desert, between Morocco, Algeria and Western Sahara. Hamada areas form 70% of the Sahara desert.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Geological dictionary, definition of a hamada.
- ^ Geological dictionary, definition of reg.
- ^ Geological dictionary, definition of erg.
- ^ McKnight, Tom L. and Darrel Hess. Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 8th ed., pp. 495-6. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2005. (ISBN 0-13-145139-1)
See also
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