Sambhar Lake : Environment for UPSC Exams
Sambhar Lake : Environment for UPSC Exams
- The Sambhar Salt Lake, India's largest inland salt lake, a bowl shape lake is in Jaipur.
- It is not part of the Ganga river basin area and is geographically a separate land locked river basin.
- The lake is actually an extensive saline wetland, with water depths fluctuating from as few as 60 centimetres (24 in) during the dry season to about 3 meters (10 ft) after the monsoon season.
- The circumference of the lake is 96 km, surrounded on all sides by the Aravali hills.
- It is India's largest saline lake and is the source of most of Rajasthan's salt production.
- Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site (recognized wetland of international importance) because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia.
- The specialized algae and bacteria growing in the lake provide striking water colours and support the lake ecology that, in turn, sustains the migrating waterfowl.
- There is other wildlife in the nearby forests, where Nilgai move freely along with deer and foxes.