Where it is warm and dry, where there are no mountains, rivers and lakes, steppes and deserts stretch for miles. Another feature that unites them is the absence of trees and the vast expanse.
What is the difference between the steppe and the desert
Despite the apparent similarities, the steppes and deserts have more distinctive features. The first and most important is the geographical location. Deserts gravitate towards the equator, which explains the high air temperature in these territories and the dry climate, which, in turn, leads to the scarcity of flora and the uniqueness of the animal world. The steppes are in more comfortable conditions, as they are located much to the north, which provides greater rainfall, and, as a result, the presence of dense (at certain times of the year) grass cover, as well as the diversity of animals that inhabit such lands. Steppes are more suitable for converting them into arable land. Thus, the main distinguishing feature is the climate. It is difficult to tolerate, almost waterless due to high temperatures in the desert, it turns the earth's surface into sand and salt marshes. Stony and clay soils are suitable only for cacti, milkweed and other types of succulents and xerophytes that can endure terrible heat for a long time. In the steppes, many types of cereals grow; these soils lend themselves to cultivation. Over the past decades, vast territories have been cultivated.
Different types of threats
Just as these expanses themselves have similarities and differences, so the threat to the steppes and deserts has common and distinctive features. The former include climate change and human activities, which are often reckless. For the steppes, the weathering and erosion of soils are dangerous; for deserts, their further desiccation. So, the main threat to the steppes is soil erosion, which is the destruction of the upper, most useful layers. These phenomena are caused by nature itself (the absence of mountains and natural forest barriers that can stand in the way of destructive winds).
Human-Disposed Elements
The flat terrain, which does not contribute to the natural outflow of heavy precipitation, is covered with ditches and ravines, and useful soil minerals are eroded and modified. There is no escape from this. An example is the catastrophe that happened in North America. We are talking about dust storms that raged for a decade, from 1930 to 1940, in the steppe strip, called the prairies there. Americans love to give wars and disasters beautiful
names, this is a series of unique power storms was called "Dusty Cauldron". It entailed massive relocations, people even left for Canada. At this stage of development, mankind cannot at a decent level resist that which threatens the steppes and deserts. The only thing that the population of the Earth can do is not aggravate the state of things, nor contribute to, nor provoke destructive natural processes. Not to cut down forests, not to drain swamps, turning the territories occupied by them before, not into fertile lands, but into sandy deserts. To protect the open spaces rich in black soil, the importance of which is so great that the Nazis rolls exported the upper, fertile layer of Ukrainian soil.
Man as an enemy of nature
So what threatens the steppes and deserts more - natural disasters or unreasonable activity of homo sapiens? Indeed, global warming, changing the channel of ocean currents, also could not do without human intervention. It is capable of destroying even the meager flora and fauna of deserts, contributing to the further and quicker desiccation of the soil of the desert itself and the territories adjoining it, turning the latter into lifeless spaces.
Of course, a person is called intelligent, and his activities are not always destructive. Nature has a certain power of self-preservation, and faith in a brighter future should not be discounted. The Earth’s nature can be saved by an integrated approach to solving this problem, the participation of all countries. And here, among all that threatens the steppes and deserts, politics comes to the fore. And a glaring example is the disconnection of Crimea’s irrigation canals by the interim government of Ukraine. The result of such actions can be a drought that can destroy large areas of arable land into which the Crimean steppes were turned by the labor of the inhabitants of the peninsula. Further more. Cattle ranching is at risk, as drought leads to a decrease in feed. This is an example of both unreasonable politics and unreasonable human activity at the same time. In this regard, I would like to note that it is impossible to achieve positive results in one national economic sector due to the destruction of others. An example is the development of shale gas production, which can poison not only black soil and water, but also make life itself on these lands impossible.
