What will happen if you keep digging in the desert? Maybe you’ve been on the beach or in the desert and it occurred to you that you don’t know what you’re going to get if you start digging here. Will you find sand, rocks, earth or just piles of treasure?
The answer of course depends on where you are. For example, some dunes move with the wind, which means you may have a whole forest below you and the watering cans ready to swallow you up.
On land, sand consists of rocks that rivers and other elements have polished due to weathering. On the shore, the constantly bubbling sea has been grinding stones for thousands and millions of years.
If you dig well on the beach (depends on the geology of the area), you can find sand, which is compressed under pressure and turns into sedimentary rock – sandstone. Continue digging now, using modern drilling equipment instead of a shovel, and you will be digging the natural rocks of the area.
As for deserts, you may not need to dig at all. Most deserts are not covered with sand but with bare bedrock. This could be spoilers for what you’ll find under sandy deserts.
Where sand is present, it is usually the result of weathering of exposed bedrock. As the dry desert landscape cools and warms during the day and night, the rocks expand and crack. Over thousands and millions of years, the rocks turn into sand under the influence of the wind blowing small stones. Therefore, if you dig deeper, you can still find bedrock and dried clay.
This does not mean that such places cannot be interesting. Shifting sand dunes can protect what they have buried beneath them, including the magnificent thistle trees in Namibia. They can also make many geological surprises. In 2010, for example, scientists discovered traces of a prehistoric mega-lake under the sands of the Sahara, believed to have formed around 250,000 years ago when the Nile flowed low into the region. Source
Source: Port Altele
