Thar Desert
| The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 17th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert. |
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About 85% of the Thar Desert is located within India, and the remaining 15% is in Pakistan.[2] The Thar Desert forms about 4.56% of the total geographic area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the Indian state of Rajasthan, and it extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana, and the Pakistani province of Sindh. Within Pakistan's Punjab province, the Thar continues as the Cholistan Desert. The desert comprises a very dry part, the Marusthali region in the west, and a semidesert region in the east with fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation.
The Thar Desert extends between the Aravalli Hills in the northeast and stretches to Punjab and Haryana to the north, to the Great Rann of Kutch along the coast, and to the alluvial plains of the Indus River in the west and northwest. Most of the desert area is covered by huge, shifting sand dunes that receive sediments from the alluvial plains and the coast. The sand is highly mobile due to strong winds occurring before the onset of the monsoon. The Luni River is the only river in the desert. Rainfall is limited to 100 to 500 mm (4 to 20 in) per year, almost all falling from June to September.
Saltwater lakes within the Thar Desert include the Sambhar, Kuchaman, Didwana, Pachpadra, and Phalodi in Rajasthan and Kharaghoda in Gujarat. These lakes receive and collect rainwater during monsoon and evaporate during the dry season. The salt is derived by the weathering of rocks in the region.
Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in the Thar Desert.
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