AQA A Level Geography: Hot Deserts - Deserts as Natural Systems

Deserts as Natural Systems:

• Systems in physical geography: systems concepts and their application to the development of desert landscapes
• Inputs, outputs, energy, stores/components, flows/transfers, positive/negative feedbacks and dynamic equilibrium
• The concepts of landform and landscape, and how related landforms combine to form characteristic landscapes
• The global distribution of mid + low latitude deserts and their margins (arid and semi-arid)
• Characteristics of hot desert environments and their margins: climate, soils, vegetation (and their interaction)
• Water balance and aridity index
• The causes of aridity: atmospheric processes relating to pressure, winds, continentality, relief and cold ocean currents