View source for Hamada

{{Short description|Desert landscape with mostly rock instead of sand}}
{{Other uses}}

[[File:La hamada noire du Tademayt 1890.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Hamada plateau at [[Tademaït]], [[Algeria]]. Photograph by French explorer [[Fernand Foureau]] during his trans-Saharan journey in 1890.]]
[[File:260 Boa Vista.jpg|thumb|Hamada in the interior of the [[Boa Vista, Cape Verde|Cape Verde island of Boa Vista]].]]
[[File:Hoggar-Hammada.jpg|thumb|Hamada desert near the [[Hoggar Mountains]] in [[Algeria]].]]
[[File:Erg chebbi cyclists.jpg|thumb|Cyclists ride over Hamada to the [[Erg Chebbi]] dunes, [[Morocco]].]]

A '''hamada''' ({{langx|ar|حمادة}},<!-- Please bring up any changes to the Arabic script on the talk page before changing it on this page --> {{Transliteration|ar|ḥammāda}}) is a type of [[desert]] landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky ([[basalt]]) plateaus, where most of the [[sand]] has been removed by [[Aeolian processes#Wind erosion|deflation]].<ref name=Springer>{{cite web|url=http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/43197.html|title=Hamada, Reg, Serir, Gibber, Saï|publisher=Springer Reference|year=2013|accessdate=2013-05-23}}</ref> The majority of the [[Sahara]] is hamada.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rocky Desert (Hamada) - Features, Information, Facts |url=https://sand-boarding.com/rocky-desert/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=sand-boarding.com|date=27 May 2022 }}</ref> Other examples are [[Negev]] desert in [[Israel]] and the {{ill|Tinrhert plateau|it|Altopiano del Tinrhert}} in Algeria.<ref name=":0" />

==Formation==
Hamadas are produced by the wind, which removes the fine products of weathering, an [[Aeolian processes|aeolian process]] known as deflation. The finer-grained products are taken away in suspension. At the same time, the sand is removed through [[saltation (geology)|saltation]] and [[Aeolian landform#Mechanism|surface creep]], leaving behind a landscape of [[gravel]], [[boulder]]s and bare rock.<ref>B.W. Sparks. ''Geomorphology'', 2nd ed., pp. 322-3. Longman Group Ltd. 1972. ({{ISBN|0-582-48147-3}})</ref>

==Related landforms==
Hamada is related to [[desert pavement]] (known variously as reg, serir, gibber, or saï), which occurs as stony plains or depressions covered with gravels or boulders rather than as highland plateaus.<ref name=Springer/>

Hamadas exist in contrast to ''[[Erg (landform)|ergs]]'', which are large areas of shifting [[sand dune]]s.<ref>McKnight, Tom L. and Darrel Hess. ''Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation'', 8th ed., pp. 495-6. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2005. ({{ISBN|0-13-145139-1}})</ref>

==See also==
''[[Hammada (plant)|Hammada]]'', a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family [[Amaranthaceae]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Deserts and xeric shrublands]]
[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]


{{Geology-stub}}