Where are soils the driest on planet Earth?
The driest soils on planet Earth are in deserts, most of which are located between 30 N and 30 S latitude where the energy from the sun is the strongest. Deserts are areas in which the evaporation rate of water from soils is high because of elevated day-time temperatures, and where precipitation is low. The largest desert in the world is the Sahara desert in northern Africa which covers almost 3.5 millions square miles. Other major deserts with very low soil moisture include the Arabian desert located mostly in Saudi Arabia, the Gobi desert in central Asia, and the Great Sandy and Great Victoria deserts in Australia, and the Namibi desert located in South Africa and Angola. The Atacama, the driest place on earth, is a coastal desert in Chile. In the United States, there are four desert regions: the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave and Sonoran.
