Hamada
{{Short description|Desert landscape with mostly rock instead of sand}}
{{Other uses}}
File:La hamada noire du Tademayt 1890.jpg, Algeria. Photograph by French explorer Fernand Foureau during his trans-Saharan journey in 1890.]]
File:Hoggar-Hammada.jpg in Algeria.]]
File:Erg chebbi cyclists.jpg dunes, Morocco.]]
A hamada ({{langx|ar|حمادة}}, {{Transliteration|ar|ḥammāda}}) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky (basalt) plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation.{{cite web|url=http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/43197.html|title=Hamada, Reg, Serir, Gibber, Saï|publisher=Springer Reference|year=2013|accessdate=2013-05-23}} The majority of the Sahara is hamada.{{Cite web |title=Rocky Desert (Hamada) - Features, Information, Facts |url=https://sand-boarding.com/rocky-desert/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=sand-boarding.com|date=27 May 2022 }} Other examples are Negev desert in Israel and the {{ill|Tinrhert plateau|it|Altopiano del Tinrhert}} in Algeria.
Formation
Hamadas are produced by the wind, which removes the fine products of weathering, an aeolian process known as deflation. The finer-grained products are taken away in suspension. At the same time, the sand is removed through saltation and surface creep, leaving behind a landscape of gravel, boulders and bare rock.B.W. Sparks. Geomorphology, 2nd ed., pp. 322-3. Longman Group Ltd. 1972. ({{ISBN|0-582-48147-3}})
Related landforms
Hamada is related to desert pavement (known variously as reg, serir, gibber, or saï), which occurs as stony plains or depressions covered with gravels or boulders rather than as highland plateaus.
Hamadas exist in contrast to ergs, which are large areas of shifting sand dunes.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
Hammada, a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaranthaceae.
References
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Category:Deserts and xeric shrublands
Category:Arabic words and phrases
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