Ufological secrets of the Mexican desert. Silence zone

On the border North America and Mexico is located big desert Chihuahua, which is not part of the nearby vast Sonoran Desert. This large plain, covered with mountain ranges, is located on a hill, so its climate is milder and less arid. These places are known as the “Land without People” because for many kilometers there is not a single city or settlement in the area.

The White Sands Nature Reserve is located in the Chihuahuan Desert, next to which are the cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua. Most of the precipitation falls in winter, allowing some plant species to grow. On the open plains here you can find agave and cacti, and in the spring the lifeless plateau is covered with a continuous carpet of flowers. Literally everything blooms, even the driest and most stunted bush, turning the desert into a vibrant, colorful land.

The largest gypsum desert - White Sands

In the United States, in the very south of the country, near the border with Mexico, between the Sacramento Mountains and the Rio Grande River, the largest gypsum desert is located - White Sands. It is unique in two respects: its color and the material from which the soil consists. It is for the color of the sand that this area got its name.

Probably not on earth more space, where it would be so “snowy” and at the same time hot. At the first moment, it seems that the dunes are really covered in a blizzard, especially since the white grains of sand sparkle under the sun, like snow crystals.

This unusual landscape was formed because the sand of this desert does not consist of quartz, as in other sandy deserts, but of crystals of a type of gypsum, which bears the poetic name of selenite. It is a soft white mineral, it looks like chalk, and is easily dissolved by water, so it is rarely found on the earth's surface.

Due to the fact that the sand is in constant motion, it is not easy for plants to take root in this region, although the rainfall here is not that little for a desert - almost 200 millimeters per year. Only poplar and yucca have adapted to life in such conditions; the root systems of these plants are adapted to life in such difficult conditions.

And California. Its area is three hundred fifty-five thousand three hundred forty-two square kilometers. In places with sharply defined forms of relief, the boundaries of the desert are clearly defined. For example, it appears in California between the foothills of the Cuiamaca and San Jacinto mountains, in Arizona between the cities of Wickenburg and Safford, along the Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Sonora and the eastern foothills of the Sierra de Juarez in California. The boundaries of the desert are difficult to distinguish in plains or hilly areas, since in these places there is a gradual transition of the desert landscape to other types of landscapes. With the exception of three areas, the Sonoran Desert is surrounded by mountains, gently or abruptly rising, at its borders. About twenty-five percent of the desert area is occupied by small hills. Consisting of granites and volcanic rocks that collapse under the influence of sudden temperature fluctuations. Large debris remains at the top, the gentle slopes are covered with rubble, and fine earth, during periods of heavy rains, is carried into depressions on the surface. Bajadas, the so-called submontane raincoats, occupy almost seventy-five percent of the valley area in the Sonoran Desert. They smoothly transform into flat alluvial plains, which are cut by the channels of permanent and temporary watercourses. Most of them fill during the rainy season, and in the absence of rain, under-channel flow passes through them. Such channels are called arroyo. The mountains located within the desert are composed of metamorphic rocks and are resistant to erosion, as a result of which they have slopes of twenty degrees or more. The valleys are located at an altitude of no higher than six hundred and fifty meters. Their peaks are covered with desert vegetation. There are many in Baja California and Arizona volcanic mountains with prominent basaltic masses or necks, isolated mountains with flat tops and steep slopes. In these mountain ranges There are canyons of considerable depth.

The relatively homogeneous climate of the Sonoran Desert explains the inherent regional differences due to geographical location and heights. Two main factors determine the climate situation. The first is the presence at latitudes of about thirty degrees north latitude of a zone with high atmospheric pressure and the second, the presence of mountain ranges to the east of the desert, which retain most of the precipitation brought from the Gulf of Mexico by the summer monsoons. An obstacle to moisture transported from the Pacific Basin by winter storms is mountain ranges, located northwest of the desert. The desert has a continental climate of subtropical type, especially in its northernmost part. In the south of the desert, the influence of the ocean determines a slight decrease in daily temperatures, the presence of strong, almost constant winds blowing from the land and the periodic presence of fog. The winter period lasts from November to April, the summer period lasts from May to October.

Throughout the year, precipitation occurs unevenly, with strong fluctuations from year to year. There are two rainy periods, winter, from December to March, and summer, from July to September, with heavy rainfall. Cyclones and fronts passing through the American continent bring winter precipitation. Wet winds from California and Gulf of Mexico bring downpours to Mexico's Sonoran Desert. The amount of precipitation varies from one hundred to two hundred and fifty millimeters. Dry periods are observed in early summer and early autumn. Sonora has positive temperatures all year round. In winter, there are significant temperature fluctuations from north to south; summer temperatures change less. The desert region bordering Death Valley experiences the highest temperatures. For this area, the period with a maximum temperature of thirty-eight degrees Celsius is equal to ninety days. Temperatures rise to thirty-two degrees, even in February. The duration of the growing season is interrupted by a period of drought. A small part of the desert territory has drainage in Pacific Ocean, its main part is drained by the Gulf of California. The largest endorheic basins found here are the Salton Sea and Laguna Salada. The Transit and Gila rivers drain the northern part of the desert. In the northwestern part of Sonora is the Sonoita River, the largest of the desert rivers of local origin. The floods of this river and the floods of the Rio Sonora never reach the tidal zone. The waters of the Rio Magdalena River rarely enter the bay. Flood along these rivers, during rainy periods, occurs within a few days or hours.

The soils of Sonora are tropical, desert, saline in many areas, to one degree or another, almost all carbonate. Sand plains and dunes occupy nearly one-seventh of the Lower Colorado River valley. There are also significant tracts of sand around the Salton River basin and the central Gulf of California. The Yuma-El Centro Highway crosses a strip of dunes that is about one hundred kilometers long. In Arizona, southeast of the city of Parker and also west of the Mohawk Mountains, there are small areas of sand dunes. In the Otero River Basin, located in southern New Mexico, a region such as Latin America, there are also sandy massifs.

The territory of the Sonoran Desert, taking into account geobotanical and geomorphological features, is divided into seven regions. These are the Lower Colorado River Valley, the Sonoran Plains, the Arizona Plateau, the Sonoran Foothills, the Vizcaino region and the Magdalena region, as well as central part coast of the Gulf of California. The northern part of Sonora is often called the "Colorado Desert", although there is no connection with the state and they are two different deserts.

Among the almost two and a half thousand species of higher plants found in the flora of the Sonoran Desert, the most widely represented are species from the family of Compositae, legumes, cereals, buckwheat, euphorbia, cactus and borage. A number of communities characteristic of the main habitats make up the vegetation of the Sonoran Desert. The extensive, slightly sloping alluvial fans support vegetation, the main components of which are clumps of creosote bush and ragweed. They also include several types of prickly pear, quinoa, acacia, fuqueria, or ocotillo. On the alluvial plains below the fans, the vegetation cover mainly consists of sparse forest of mesquite trees. Their roots, penetrating into the depths, reach groundwater, and roots located in the surface layer of soil, within a radius of up to twenty meters from the trunk, can intercept precipitation. A mature mesquite tree reaches a height of eighteen meters and can be more than a meter wide. In our time, only the pitiful remnants of the once majestic mesquite forests remain, long cut down for fuel. The mesquite forest is very similar to the black saxaul thickets in the Karakum Desert. The forest composition, in addition to mesquite, includes clematis and acacia. Near the water, along the banks of rivers, near the water, there are poplars, with ash and Mexican elder mixed in with them. Plants such as acacia, creosote bush and celtis grow in the beds of arroyos, drying up temporary streams, as well as in the adjacent plains. In the Gran Desierto Desert, near the Gulf of California coast, the sandy plains are dominated by ragweed and creosote bush, and sand dunes Ephedra and tobosa grow, as well as ragweed. In the Arizona Highlands, northwest of the Sonoran Desert, the vegetation is especially colorful and varied. The denser vegetation cover and diversity of vegetation is due to more rainfall here than in other areas of Sonora, as well as the ruggedness of the terrain, a combination of steep slopes of different exposures and hills. A peculiar cactus forest, in which the main place is occupied by the giant columnar saguaro cactus, with a low-growing encelia shrub located between the cacti, is formed on gravelly soils with a large number fine earth. Also among the vegetation are large barrel-shaped ferocactus, ocotillo, paloverde, several types of prickly pear, acacia, celtis, creosote bush, as well as mesquite tree, in the floodplains. The trees and bushes of the Sonoran Desert that attract attention with their unique appearance include ivory tree, ironwood and idria, or buium, growing only in two areas of the Sonoran Desert, located in, which is part of a region such as Latin America.

Most of the succulents in the Sonoran Desert are cacti, and of course the main one is the giant saguaro. Its height reaches, on average, ten meters. The largest reach a height of fifteen meters and weigh up to seven tons, consisting of ninety percent water. The superficial root system diverges from the trunk over a radius of up to thirty meters, allowing the plant to collect moisture from a large area during rains. The growth of suguaro occurs very slowly, reaching a height of two, two and a half meters, at the age of fifty to sixty years, it begins to bear fruit. The suguaro begins to produce lateral shoots and branches, taking on its classic shape only after seventy, and sometimes even a hundred years. The saguaro blooms very intensively. An adult plant produces about a hundred flowers during the spring rains. Remaining open for almost a day, they are pollinated by various insects - bees, butterflies, ants, flies, birds and nectar-eating bats. Each saguaro fruit contains about two point two thousand seeds. However, suguaro fruits are eaten by both humans and many animals. The possibility of seeds ending up in the soil and growing into an adult plant is very small. Saguaro seedlings, which grow very slowly, are also eaten by many rodents, insects and ungulates.

The three hot deserts of North America, Sonora, Mojave and Chihuahua, are home to many common animal species. This is explained by the mobility of animals and their movement over long distances. However, some species of animals can be found in the territory of only one desert. Animals such as the antelope hare and Harris's antelope ground squirrel are found only in Sonora. Among birds, species unique to Sonora are not found. However, there are a number of such examples among reptiles. Characteristic of Sonora are a number of species of rattlesnakes, the lyre snake, the leaf-nosed snake, small burrowing snakes, and the pink boa constrictor. Other reptiles found only in Sonora include the leaf-toed gecko and the horned lizard. Characteristic species They are also found among amphibians, these are the spadefoot and the Colorado toad. The animal world of the Sonoran Desert consists of about thirty species of mammals, about fifty species of reptiles, forty species of birds and up to five hundred species of arthropods. One of the mammals are rodents that feed on green parts of plants and seeds. These include some species of sac mice from the heteromyid family and kangaroo rats. Obtaining moisture from food, these rodents survive their entire lives without water. They store food in burrows, under the roots of bushes. Antelope ground squirrels and ground squirrels, members of the squirrel family, build complex burrows in the desert. They usually live in large colonies. The sac gopher, part of a special family of geomyids, also lives in the Sonoran Desert. The grasshopper mouse, as well as the deer mouse, which belongs to the hamster-like species, also penetrate into the desert territory. Antelope and black-tailed hares and all the mentioned rodents serve as food for many predators, foxes, snakes, owls, badgers, falcons, and cats. Due to human persecution, ungulates that once inhabited the Sonoran Desert have now become rare. They are found only in reserves and national parks. These are the antelope-like pronghorn and the white-tailed desert deer, or mule deer. Of the ungulates, only the collared peccary is a good companion for humans. Living in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, in the last decade they have spread northward, feeding on both plant and animal foods. Even the prickly pear cakes are his food.

Four-legged predators that live in the Sonoran Desert belong to the families of cats, dogs, mustelids and raccoons. These are big-eared fox, coyote, red lynx, coati, desert badger. The puma, which primarily inhabited the territory from deserts to mountain forests located in the Northern and South America, has become very rare and is disappearing from human persecution.

Among the birds living in the Sonoran Desert, the ground cuckoo leads a terrestrial lifestyle. It is a bird with strong legs and a long tail that moves quickly on the ground and feeds on a variety of lizards, small snakes, rodents and insects. The scaly quail, which also lives in the ground layer, feeds on plant seeds. The ground owl nesting in them hides from the heat of the day in the burrows of rodents and hares. Her chicks scare off the enemy by emitting a hiss similar to a rattlesnake. The black-billed thrush and cactus wren, members of the passerine family, build their nests in thickets of prickly pears, using their spines to build their nests. White-winged Dove and Sparrow Kestrel build open nests on saguaro cacti. By feeding on the fruits and nectar of cacti, the white-winged dove promotes the settlement of cacti and participates in the pollination of their flowers. During flowering, tiny bright hummingbirds also take part in pollinating cactus flowers. Two species of woodpeckers, the large golden and the small dark, hollow out nesting holes in the trunks of the saguaro cactus. Free hollows made in reserve by the dusky woodpecker are readily used by such birds as the noisy owl, purple tree swallow, tyrant flycatcher and the smallest owl in the world, the elf owlet. On the tops of saguaros, desert scavengers such as turkey vultures and urubu vultures sit in large groups. In addition to live prey, such a bird of prey as the Mexican cara-cara is not averse to eating carrion.

The white-throated tree rat, a member of the hamster family, builds huge ground nests. A rounded nest, reaching more than a meter in diameter, built from branches of stones and leaves, located among thickets of cacti or at the base of a large bush, protects the rodent well from enemies.

Reptiles in the Sonoran Desert outnumber other terrestrial vertebrates in number of species. The iguana family is most richly represented here. The leopard lizard, brightly colored and elegant, when fleeing from the enemy, developing high speed, switches to bipedal running, during which it rises forward of its body. On the toes of the comb-toed lizard there are scaly ridges that facilitate running on loose substrate. Chakwala also belongs to the iguana family. The slow-moving toad-horned lizard has horn-like spines on the back of its head that protect its neck, the most vulnerable spot when attacked by a predator.

Of the small number of gecko species, the fat-tailed gecko is especially distinguished. When attacked by a predator, the brightly colored thick tail of the gecko easily falls off, remaining in the teeth of the predator, while saving the gecko hiding in the shelter. The xanthusia lizard, like the gecko, is nocturnal. Two lizards, the common serpentine and the Mexican serpentine, from the family Acidtoothidae, are found only in the Sonoran Desert. They are the only genus of venomous lizards in the world. The venom glands located at the base of the lower jaw are not connected by ducts to the teeth, unlike snake glands. The poison released in the oral cavity enters the victim’s blood through the wounds caused by the bite by the sharp teeth of the poisonous tooth. For potential enemies, a warning signal is the bright coloring of the slow-moving poison tooth. The most common species of snakes in the Sonoran Desert are non-venomous snakes from the Colubrid family. These include the western kingsnake, which is black with red cross-rings, the tan bullsnake, or gopher snake, and the brick-red whip snake with a black neck and black head. Of the venomous snakes in the desert, only one species from the family Aspidae, the Arizona coral snake, lives in the desert, as well as seven species of rattlesnakes from the genus “Crotalus”. The most common among them is the black rattlesnake.

Invertebrates of the Sonoran Desert are represented by various locusts, night and day butterflies, bugs, longhorned beetles, termites, hymenoptera ants and wasps. Arachnids include black tarantulas and yellow scorpions, which build burrows in the ground. The karakurt also lives in the desert, the female of which has a bite that is fatal to humans.

Photo: Brujo+ / Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

The Sonoran Desert is located mostly in the southwest of the United States of America, as well as in the northwest of Mexico, covering an area of ​​more than 320 thousand square kilometers. This desert is also called the Gila Desert, truly amazing place with a peculiar, unique topography, a particularly mild climate and very unusual vegetation for the desert.

Incredibly picturesque and rich in variety of cacti from all over the North American deserts. One of the main assets of the desert is the Saguaro cacti, which weigh up to ten tons and live up to 250 years.

The cactus of the same name is named after these cacti. national park, located in Arizona in the USA. However, saguaros are not the only cacti in the desert; you can also see:

1. "Ferocactus wislizenii" - giant spiky balls, the size of which reaches a meter in diameter;
2. Jumping Mexican beans - the cactus jumps into the shadows, moving away from its native bush at a distance of up to 160 kilometers;
3. Prickly pear is a huge cactus tree on which figs grow; it is often used to create a hedge;
4. Agave - from the core of this plant, alcoholic drinks are produced - tequila and mezcal, etc.

The entire perimeter of the desert is surrounded by mountains and hills, which are also found within the desert. Rainfall is very uneven throughout the year, dividing the year into a rainy season from July to September and a dry winter period from December to March.

Fauna of Sonora

The Gila Desert is currently home to more animals than any other desert in the world. Despite the harsh living conditions in the desert, many animals have been able to adapt to them, however, threats to animals remain such as: tourists in cars, cutting down cacti and trees in areas of water bodies and, of course, hunting.

The fauna is represented by such unusual rodents as the cactus mouse, tree rat and ground squirrel, among insectivores there is a desert shrew, and among reptiles there is a night lizard, a fat-tailed gecko, a gopher tortoise and a common oak.

Also, among the inhabitants of the desert there are birds: mockingbird, crying dove, scaled quail and ground cuckoo. A diverse number of different snakes, lizards and other invertebrate fauna.

The Sonoran Desert is home to not only insects, reptiles and small animals, but also quite large animals. One of the inhabitants of the desert is the jaguar - a large and dangerous aquatic cat. There are also red lynxes in the desert - royal predators that have adapted to move through the desert without leaving traces. The desert has also become home to modern Indian tribes, of which there are currently more than 17.

Population

The Sonoran Desert has a very low population density. More than 90% of the population professes Catholicism. The largest ethnic groups in the desert are the Mayo, Seri and Yaqui. The US government is making attempts to preserve the ancient Indian language, which at the moment have not yet been successful, because only 3% of the Gila population spoke this language.

The largest people of the state are the Mayo, who live on the banks of the Mayo River and in municipalities such as Alamos, Quirego and others. The next largest community is Yaqui, with about 33,000 people living on the banks of the Yaqui River.

The number of the third largest people is only 650 people; they call themselves Conca'ac, which means “people”. Internationally they are called Seri, which means “people of the sand.” Looking at their habitat on the map, you will see the central coast of the state and several islands in the Gulf of California. Several other ethnic groups also live in the Gila Desert, however, they are all quite small in number.

Among the existing deserts, the largest in area can be distinguished. There are many tropical deserts. If we take into account sandy deserts, then the largest of them is the Sahara.

Large tropical deserts

A considerable area is occupied by the Arabian Desert. From the name it is clear that it extends across the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, but also affects Jordan, Egypt and Syria, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Its territory is two million three hundred thirty thousand square kilometers. Due to frequent strong winds, sharp fluctuations in daily temperatures and dust storms, more than half of the entire desert area remains uninhabited. Surprisingly, during the day the temperature is so high that an egg can fry on the sand within ten minutes, but at night it is unbearably cold.

The Gobi Desert runs partly through China and Mongolia. If you translate its name from the Mongolian language, it will sound like “waterless place.” The area occupied by the Gobi is one million three hundred thousand square kilometers.

The Kalahari Desert occupies a slightly smaller area compared to the Gobi - about nine hundred thousand square kilometers. It extends across countries such as Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. In the Berber language, the word "Kalahari" translates to "tormenting." Local residents call this desert Karri-Karri. Its territory is not constant; it is known that it grows as a result of alluvium.

In Australia, the most significant desert is Victoria. It covers an area of ​​six hundred and forty-seven square kilometers - that's almost half of the entire continent. The desert is unusual in that, along with sandy, it is also rocky, where large areas are covered with fine gravel. The famous red dunes are also found there. Their height sometimes reaches forty meters. The Great Sandy Desert is also located in Australia. Its name is confirmed by the size of the area it occupies - four hundred thousand square kilometers. There are two more deserts in Australia, each with an area of ​​about one hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers - these are the Gibson and Simpson deserts.

Mexico and America are partially crossed by the Chihuahuan Desert. Its territory is an area of ​​four hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers. Nearby there is the Sonoran Desert, with an area of ​​three hundred and ten square kilometers. About two hundred thousand square kilometers is the territory of the Thar Desert. It extends across countries such as Pakistan and India.

The largest desert in Asia

The Gobi is practically the very center of Asia. Desert areas remain completely waterless for about sixty-five million years. The dune sands of the desert make up only three percent of its area, but hamadas, in other words rocky and clayey deserts, occupy vast territories.

Africa's largest desert

It is impossible to attribute the Sahara to any one type; it cannot be categorized, but we can say that the sandy-rocky type predominates.

The largest desert in the world

This polar desert has been little studied, and what is underneath eternal ice no one knows. Scientists have been studying the fauna and flora of Antarctica for many years. Belgica Antarctica is the name of the wingless midge, which is the largest land animal in Antarctica. Its length does not exceed one centimeter three millimeters.

To study the snowy desert, scientists study ice cores—long cylinders of ice produced by drilling into the ice surface. So they manage to go back in time thousands of years and obtain information about the earth’s climate of that period.

But the coldest place on Earth is in Antarctica.
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The area is a desert area with sparse vegetation. At first glance, a dull, unremarkable, deserted area, however, the desert is quite famous. The local residents call it the “Zone of Silence,” and researchers gave it the name Tethys Sea. Yours strange name the area received because in this area the television and radio equipment does not receive waves, or vice versa, the radio signal becomes incredibly powerful. In addition, the car engine may suddenly stop, and navigation devices may not work properly.

The desert is famous not only for its radio silence. Some things happening on its territory are strange, inexplicable. Eyewitnesses observed some flying machines in a mysterious area. You can see unusual lights in the night sky, and often falling meteorites are quite commonplace.

Locals they even talk about meetings with aliens from other worlds, and similar cases are far from isolated. According to the descriptions of direct participants in such “meetings”, the visitors looked like ordinary people, only somewhat strangely dressed. Clothing style is a matter of taste, but something else attracted attention. What were these people doing in the desert, without transport, without water, provisions or any equipment? It is quite obvious that the harsh climate and landscape of these places are far from best place for walks. People who came into contact with the alleged aliens noted their friendliness, and in some cases, assistance provided. It is difficult to say how true the stories about contacts with the “guests” of our planet are, but it should be understood that there is no direct evidence of this.

Silence zone is a region of space within which there is no reception of signals from short-wave transmitters.

Extraordinary phenomena occurring in the Silent Zone have attracted the attention of scientists. In the center of the anomaly, in the 1970s of the last century, a research station was built. Scientists have discovered many amazing things. Ultraviolet radiation in this area is almost 30% higher than in other, hotter areas. An increase in ultraviolet levels is observed in a strictly limited area. Scientists have not found an explanation for this phenomenon. It also remains a mystery who and for what purpose did the structure, the ruins of which were found in the desert, serve? There is a version that the building was ancient observatory. Researchers have recorded a magnetic anomaly and an increased background radiation. This phenomenon is explained by the presence of magnetite and uranium in the soil. It is likely that the anomaly is the cause of inadequate operation of various electronic equipment and other devices.

There is a very interesting opinion about what is happening in the Tethys Sea. The zone is a refueling station for interstellar aircraft making intergalactic flights. Perhaps the eyewitness accounts are true, and people met the pilots of star cruisers?

Scientific world, on at the moment, could not explain all the reasons for the strange phenomena in the Zone of Silence and the mysteries remain unsolved.