Moroni writes that "the land of Moron, where the king dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites" (Ether 7:6). In Alma 22, Mormon gives a description of Lamanite and Nephite lands. (The reader is referred to the commentary on those verses.) Suffice it to say that,
the land which they [the Nephites] called Bountiful . . . bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed [the land of the Jaredites], of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing. And they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful. (Alma 22:29-31)
The question then becomes, How "near" was the land of Moron to the land of Desolation?
Readers should use caution in using these verses to prove, beyond any doubt, that only one "land of Desolation," existed. According to Richard Hauck, Near Eastern scholars have stated that the ancient Semites denoted any scene of defeat with the name Hormah, which translates as "Destruction" or "Desolation" (Nibley 1976:195) [F. Richard Hauck, Deciphering the Geography of the Book of Mormon, p. 104]