Hot desert soils occur on every continent as places with wildland, scientific, aesthetic, and cultural value. Where perennial sources of water have existed in history, like the Nile, hot deserts were environment where early human civilizations arose across the world. Hot deserts are also important reservoirs of inorganic carbon, sources of local and intercontinental dust, and grazing habitat. Desert soils having paleo-features are also important in view of the paleoenvironmental reconstruction. “Non-flushing” soil profiles leading to the accumulation of soluble salts, gypsum, and carbonates is the dominant feature of hot desert soils. Other unique features include desert pavements, varnish, and biocrusts. Biocrusts not only fix nitrogen, influence runoff, and protect soils from wind erosion, they also play a role in biomineralization of carbonate. Pedogenic studies of hot desert soils are providing a better understanding of fundamental physical, chemical, and biotic/abiotic interactions in one of the most extreme environments on Earth, an understanding that may provide insight on extreme environments elsewhere in the universe, like Mars.

在每个大陆上，沙漠热土都具有荒野，科学，美学和文化价值。历史上常年存在水源的地方，例如尼罗河，炎热的沙漠是人类早期文明在全世界兴起的环境。炎热的沙漠也是重要的无机碳储集层，局部和洲际粉尘源以及放牧地。考虑到古环境的重建，具有古特征的沙漠土壤也很重要。“非冲洗”土壤剖面导致可溶性盐，石膏和碳酸盐的积累，这是炎热的沙漠土壤的主要特征。其他独特的功能包括沙漠路面，清漆和生物结皮。生物结皮不仅固定氮，影响径流并保护土壤免受风蚀，而且还在碳酸盐的生物矿化中发挥作用。