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Laghouat

(Encyclopedia)Laghouat lägwätˈ [key], town (1998 pop. 96,342), N Algeria, an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara Desert. It is an important administrative and military center and marketplace and is known for r...

Copiapó

(Encyclopedia)Copiapó kōpyäpōˈ [key], city (1990 est. pop. 79,268), capital of Atacama region, N central Chile, on the Copiapó River. An industrial city at the southern edge of the Atacama Desert, Copiapó ha...

Dimona

(Encyclopedia)Dimona dīmōˈnə [key] [Heb.,=wasting], town, S Israel, in the Negev Desert. It is the seat...

antelope brush

(Encyclopedia)antelope brush, low, deciduous shrub (Purshia tridentata) of the family Rosaceae (rose family), widely distributed in the W United States where it is a characteristic constituent of the vegetation on ...

Phaëthon

(Encyclopedia)Phaëthon fāˈətən [key], in Greek mythology, son of Helios and the nymph Clymene. He tried to drive his father's golden chariot, but he could not control its great steeds. As the chariot plunged t...

Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave

(Encyclopedia)Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave, 1940–, French novelist, b. Nice, grad. Univ. of Nice (L. ès L., 1963), Univ. of Aix-en-Provence (M.A., 1964), Univ. of Perpignan (D. ès L., 1983). He spent much of ...

sandgrouse

(Encyclopedia)sandgrouse, common name for pigeon-sized, seed-eating, terrestrial birds of the genera Pteroclida (approximately 14 species) and Syrrhaptes (2 species). They are birds of the Old World deserts and ste...

Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian lōˈᵺēən [key], 1868–1926, British traveler, author, and government official, one of the builders of the modern state of Iraq, grad. Oxford, 1887. From 1899 on ...

kangaroo rat

(Encyclopedia)kangaroo rat, small, jumping desert rodent, genus Dipodomys, related to the pocket mouse. There are about 20 kangaroo rat species, found throughout the arid regions of Mexico and the S and W United St...

plain

(Encyclopedia)plain, large area of level or nearly level land. Elevated plains are called plateaus, or tablelands, and very low, wet plains are called swamps. Plains have different names in different climates and c...