Image: Wikimedia Commons

erg

Broad, flat area of desert

EntityQ319120

Also known as sand sea · dune sea · sand sheet · sandy desert

Subclass of: aeolian landform
, desert

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

An erg is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The word is derived from the Arabic word ʿirq (عرق), meaning 'dune field'. Strictly speaking, an erg is defined as a desert area that contains more than 125 km2 (48 sq mi) of aeolian or wind-blown sand and where sand covers more than 20% of the surface. Smaller areas are known as "dune fields". The largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara, covers 9 million square kilometres and contains the largest amount of ergs, including many large ergs such as the Chech Erg and the Issaouane Erg in Algeria. Approximately 85% of all the Earth's mobile sand is found in ergs that are greater than 32,000 km2 (12,355 sq mi), the largest being the Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. Ergs are also found on other celestial bodies, such as Venus, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan.

Overview

All data

15 statements · 7% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Different from: Erg
desert

On other databases

10 identifiers linking erg across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited October 7, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

Suggest a fact or correction

Links

Use this data

curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q319120

API docs, limits & keys

Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). erg (Q319120). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/erg-Q319120