The Sahara Desert is immense. It is the size of the United States and you could still fit at least a dozen European countries in it as well. Supposedly, it's all empty. Sure, there are interesting geological and geographical features, like oases, mountain ranges, and the Richat structure. And there is a huge river flowing though it. One of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world sprang up on its edge. One of its major cities housed the largest library in the ancient and classical worlds. I consider the Arabian desert to be an extension of the Sahara as it is equally arid and only separated by a thin sea.

How can such an immense desert exist? To the north is the Mediterranean Sea, the nexus and harbor of European culture. With The winds sweeping off of the Himalayan and West Asian plateaus bring moist air from the foothills and somewhat cool air from the ridges. And yet, Arabia is sometimes warmer and drier than the Sahara. The Nile River has virtually no effect on its surroundings. Look at Lake Nasser on satellite maps. There is basically no vegetation on the edges of the lake. Maybe a few shrubs here and there. How can such a large structure exist? The weather interactions are widespread and cause powerful hurricane seasons that increase in severity as Senegal begins to green up.

There is also Antarctica to consider. Being at the bottom of the world, it has accumulated a stupendously heavy and massive ice cap. Having a continental climate, the winds sweep off the ice domes and bring cold air (that turns humid over water) to much of the southern hemisphere. Why is it so empty? The only geological features of note are the McMurdo Dry Valleys, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Transantarctic Mountains. Why did Adm. Byrd talk about a vast land beyond the mountains? Why was Germany so interested in an ice-covered region? Why are Chile and Argentina fighting over barren, mostly useless islands and the tip of Antarctica?

How does this exist? I have read about volcanism under the ice, record-breaking ice calves, and slush lakes with unidentifiable life. Are these things related? What is the world doing in Antarctica? I heard somewhere that Russia sent a submarine under Antarctica and found otherworldly creatures. Is this true? What other secrets are there?

And what about the oceans? What are the funny looking grids? Why is the Titanic shipwreck's location somewhat blurred on Google Earth? Why are there geological structures found at the seafloor that can't be formed by more water than could fill them? Where is Eden? Atlantis? The Mid Atlantic Ridge looks like it has been cracked and stressed on scales that would shake the entire planet. And yet there is no evidence of an earthquake large enough to cause rifting like that. What is the chasm running right through the Rio Grande Rise? Why does it look like the Scotia Ridge was formed rapidly and bent in a strange and unnatural way?

There is so much in the oceans. Are the mysterious sounds such as the Bloop (somehow got sidetracked researching this the other day and read about tons of SCP entities) attributable to icequakes? Why are some remote parts of the ocean of slightly higher quality (100m per pixel as opposed to 1km per pixel) than others? What creatures lurk in the depths that [they] are desperately trying to hide?

I am far more questions but I'm sure I'll get less than a quarter of these answered anyway lol.