| BS16110507 | MOHD HASNAWIE BIN HASSAN |
| BS16110708 | ARLYN DULYN ANAK KASIM |
| BS16110455 | IVY LIANA BINTI JIMMY |
| BS16110456 | ONG LI CHING |
COMMENTATORS:
| BS16110833 | ALVIN WONG |
| BS16110526 | CHAN ZHENG YI |
| BS16110531 | SITTI HAJAR BINTI GAFFAR |
| BS16110643 | ERIC PO WEN KERN |
Atacama Desert is the driest among all other deserts. The desert is located on the northern part of Chile on western South America. At daytime, there is almost no sign of any life visible or found on the dry and arid desert. But at night, the gulls from the seaside are the only species found living in that desert. They feed their younglings food and cocooned them after that from the extreme cold temperature during night time. On the other hand, to adapt the extreme hot weather during daytime, the gulls pant like dogs and fluff their feathers to release the excess heat in their body efficiently. Other than this adaptation, the eggshells the gulls are also very thick. This is to prevent water loss inside the egg, but less oxygen will also enter the egg, so the younglings took longer time to hatch out.
ReplyDeleteAt the left edge of Chile is the Pacific Ocean, which is full of life, the very opposite of the Atacama Desert. The seawater is mostly cloudy due to the booming growth of plankton, which the environment there provides optimum oxygen and sunlight. The cold temperature of the ocean also attracts penguins and sea lions from Antarctica.
The hilltop between the ocean and the desert is another different environment. It is dry but still there is lots of life found there. It is because the fog form at the ocean got blew to the hilltop and condensed into water vapour, hence moisten the environment and surprisingly support all the life out there. Another surprisingly variety of life found is located at the southern part of Atacama Desert, there is rainforest found there.
Andes Mountain Ranges stretch across the desert too. At the high altitude there, lakes are found to have support life despite the extreme cold temperature and thin oxygen. The rivers flow from mountain range dried and form a large basin of salt pan on their midway to the desert. Flamingo and saline-tolerant shrimps are found living there.
Lastly, rock mining is a popular at there. It is because the rocks at the desert contain 2% of pure copper, which is the biggest contributor to Chilean economy and the richness abound at the desert.
SITTI HAJAR BINTI GAFFAR
ReplyDeleteBS16110531
The Atacama Desert is commonly known as the driest non-polar place in the world . Moreover, some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. Periods of up to four years have been registered with no rainfall in the central sector, delimited by the cities of Antofagasta, Calama and Copiapó, in Chile. Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971 . The climate of the Atacama Desert limits the number of animals living permanently in this extreme ecosystem. Some parts of the desert are so arid, no plant or animal life can survive.
The Atacama Desert may be the oldest desert on earth, and has experienced extreme hyperaridity for at least 3 million years, making it the oldest continuously arid region on earth. The long history of aridity raises the possibility that supergene mineralisation, under the appropriate conditions, can form in arid environments, instead of requiring humid conditions.
The soil of Atacama Desert has been extremely dry and un-vegetated since its formation that is 10 million years ago. Soils of various ages , show no evidence of accumulation of clay minerals or accumulation of calcium carbonate, clear indicators of semi-arid conditions in a vegetated landscape . Instead, we see soils cemented almost entirely with gypsum. In the modern Atacama Desert, gypsum-cemented soils are restricted to areas that receive less than 3 cm of precipitation per year! We also see that the abundance of more soluble minerals such as halite increasing in the younger soils, suggesting that climate might be getting drier.
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ReplyDeleteALVIN WONG
ReplyDeleteBS16110833
The video is about the Atacama Desert, where once it would have water and rain but now it is just a sun-baked water course that is utterly dry because there’s literally no water and it hardly rains. The Atacama Dessert is in the northern region of Chile, which is in South America. On one side, the Atacama Desert is confided by the Pacific Ocean and on the other, it is surrounded by the mighty Andes Mountains. In stark contrast, less than 120 miles from the mountains is the desert’s western border, which is the Pacific Ocean. The seawater there is mostly cloudy due to the booming growth of plankton, making the environment optimum for light because of it has a lot of oxygen and sunlight. The cold temperature of the ocean also attracts Humboldt penguins and sea lions from Antarctica. Even though there is plenty of life near there, the sterile Atacama Desert feels like a whole different world because is it devoid of any movement and sound, making it questionable if any life can exist within the desert’s arid heart. Some say it is a memory of a desert that was once covered by ancient seas and lagoons and the grey gulls have never abandoned the nesting places of their ancestors. Others say they nest here for safety as no predator is likely to risk hunting in such a vast and hostile place. In northern Chile, there is a fog bank is known as the camanchaca. The camanchaca brings the miracle of life to the desert fringe but it’s a cruel and empty gesture to the parched land beyond. Near the southern edge of the desert where coastal hills are a little higher, the daily camanchaca creates, its ultimate gift, a rainforest that looms out of the fog; its greatest contrast to the desert. The high hills catch just enough fog, to grow a few tiny forests. Rivers and streams continue their winding journeys through a maze of hills towards the desert, most will never make it. They end up in large basins, where water evaporates rapidly. Leaving vast salt pans stretching as far the eye can see.
This video is about Chile where there is a place named Atacama desert which is one of the driest place on earth. It is located between the pacific ocean and the Andes mountain. It stated that Atacama desert once have water flowing in the area but now there is no water left. One of the reason is the sunlight is too strong and the ultraviolet ray is too strong which cause the area to loss the water contain which once flowing in the area. Very few or no rain in the area also cause the area to become desert like place. From the video i found that one of the most essential reason why plant cannot grow in the desert is that there is no water in the area. water is essential for plant grow as it is used for the chemical reaction in the plant. Copper contain in the soil is also essential for plant growth. Lack of the copper in the soil will affect the growth of the plant. Without adequate copper, the plant will fail to grow as it is an essential element for plant growth. We can see that they used to dig every deep just to get the copper in the earth proof that the copper is deep in the earth. Only few plant that manage to adapt to the environment is the cacti. cacti have unique characteristic to help to survive such harsh environment such as small leaves size and also very long root that help to get water and copper deep in the earth. In conclusion, desert is not suitable for plant growth and only those plant which manage to adapt can survive in such harsh environment.
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