Which desert is the largest in South America?

The Patagonian Desert is the largest desert in South America.

Also called the Patagonian Steppe, it covers roughly 673,000 square kilometres, primarily across southern Argentina, with smaller areas extending into Chile. It stretches between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean and is the largest desert south of the 40th parallel.

Unlike the famously barren Atacama, the Patagonian Desert is a cold desert. Much of its landscape consists of windswept gravel plains, plateaus, shrublands, grasslands, river valleys and canyons. Temperatures are generally cool, and frost is common. The Andes create a powerful rain shadow by blocking moist winds from the Pacific, while the cold Falkland Current also contributes to dryness along the Atlantic side.

The Atacama is often mistaken for the largest because it is renowned as the driest nonpolar desert on Earth. However, the Patagonian Desert is far larger by area. The Sechura and Monte deserts are smaller South American arid regions, and the Monte is commonly treated as a neighbouring or transitional desert rather than the continent’s largest.