صحراء تهر

	Thar Desert
	Great Indian Desert
	Desert
	Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India
البلدان	الهند (85%), پاكستان (15%)
State	India:; Rajasthan; Haryana; Punjab; Gujarat; ; Pakistan:; Sindh; Punjab
Biome	Desert
Plant	thorn scrub forest
الحيوان	Chinkara

A NASA satellite image of the Thar Desert, with the India–Pakistan border superimposed

The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. About 85% of the Thar Desert is in India, and the remaining 15% is in Pakistan. In India, it covers about 320,000 kم² (3.4×10¹² قدم²), forming approximately 10% of the total geographic area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the state of Rajasthan alone and extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana. This 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.

Geography

View of the Thar desert

The Thar Desert extends between the Aravalli Hills in the north-east, the Great Rann of Kutch along the coast and the alluvial plains of the Indus River in the west and north-west. Most of the desert 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 integrated into the desert. Rainfall is limited to 100–500 mم (3.9–19.7 بوصة) per year, mostly falling from July to September.

Desertification control

Greening desert with plantations of jojoba at Fatehpur, Shekhawati

Checking of shifting sand dunes through plantations of Acacia tortilis near Laxmangarh town

Indira Gandhi Canal flowing in Thar Desert near Sattasar village, Bikaner district, Rajasthan

Biodiversity

Blackbuck male and female

Chinkara or 'Indian Gazelle' is found across Thar desert

Fauna

Peacock on Khejri tree

The region is a haven for 141 species of migratory and resident birds of the desert. One can see eagles, harriers, falcons, buzzards, kestrel and vultures. There are short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus), tawny eagles (Aquila rapax), greater spotted eagles (Aquila clanga), laggar falcons (Falco jugger) and kestrels. There are also a number of reptiles.

The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder in the Thar region. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of the Punjab (Pakistan). It can be seen sitting on khejri or pipal trees in villages or Deblina.Bishnois Dharmaguru Jambeshwar was an ecologist.

Flora

Prosopis cineraria or Khejri

People

Huts in the Thar desert

The great Derawar Fort located within Bahawalpur, Pakistan

A girl from the Gadia Lohars nomadic tribe of Marwar, cooking her food

The Thar Desert is the most densely populated desert in the world, with a population density of 83 people per km². In India, the inhabitants comprise Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. In Pakistan, inhabitants also include both Muslims and Hindus.

Thar in ancient literature

The position of Thar desert (orange colour) in Iron Age Vedic India.

Course of Sarasvati river through Thar desert

The Indian epics describe this region as Lavanasagara (salt ocean). The Ramayana mentions Lavanasagara when Rama goes to attack Lanka with the army of vanaras. Rama uses his agneyashtra-amogha to dry up the sea named drumakulya situated north of Lavanasagara. A fresh water source named Pushkar surrounded by Marukantara was created.

According to Jain cosmology, Jambūdvīpa is at the centre of Madhyaloka, or the middle part of the universe, where the humans reside. Jambūdvīpaprajñapti or the treatise on the island of roseapple tree contains a description of Jambūdvīpa and life biographies of Ṛṣabha and King Bharata. Jambūdvīpa continent is surrounded by the ocean Lavanoda (salt ocean).

The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.

Desert eco-system

Due to severe weather conditions, there are few highways in the Thar desert. Shown here is a road in Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan.

Agriculture

Livestock

Camel ride in the Thar desert near Jaisalmer, India.

Cows in Thar Desert

Agroforestry

Lopping of Khejri tree for fodder and fuel in Harsawa village

Ecotourism

Sunrise in the desert

Salt water lakes

There are a number of salt water lakes in Thar desert. These are Sambhar, Pachpadra, Tal Chhapar, Falaudi and Lunkaransar where Sodium chloride salt is produced from salt water. The Didwana lake produces Sodium Sulphate salt. Ancient Archaeological evidences of habitations have been recovered from Sambhar and Didwana lakes which shows their antiquity and historical importance.

Water and housing in the desert

Johads are common water sources

Recreation

Desert tribes near Jaisalmer, India

References

^ Singhvi, A. K. and Kar, A. (1992). Thar Desert in Rajasthan: Land, Man & Environment. Geological Society of India, Bangalore.
^ Sinha, R. K., Bhatia, S., & Vishnoi, R. (1996). Desertification control and rangeland management in the Thar desert of India. RALA Report No. 200: 115–123.
^ Sharma, K. K. and S. P. Mehra (2009). The Thar of Rajasthan (India): Ecology and Conservation of a Desert Ecosystem. Chapter 1 in: Sivaperuman, C., Baqri, Q. H., Ramaswamy, G., & Naseema, M. (eds.) Faunal ecology and conservation of the Great Indian Desert. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg.
^ Sharma, K. K., S. Kulshreshtha, A. R. Rahmani (2013). Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India: General Background and Ecology of Vertebrates. Springer Science & Business Media, New York.
^ Laity, J. J. (2009). Deserts and Desert Environments. John Wiley & Sons.
^ Singh, P. (ed.) (2007). Report of the Task Force on Grasslands and Deserts. Government of India Planning Commission, New Delhi.
^ Raza, Hassan (5 March 2012). "Mithi: Where a Hindu fasts and a Muslim does not slaughter cows". Dawn. A Muslim resident of Thar shared his account by saying: "In our village, Hindus and Muslims have been living together for decades and there has not been a single day, when I have seen a religious conflict. No loud speaker is used for Azaan at the time when Hindus are worshiping in their temple, and no bells are rung when it is time for namaz. Nobody eats in public when it is Ramazan and Holi is played by every member of the village." I had always heard stories about interfaith harmony from Sindh but it was so much more amazing to see it firsthand. The love and brotherhood that exists between the Hindus and Muslims of Mithi is a perfect example of pluralism and the tolerant Sufi culture of Sindh.
^ خطأ استشهاد: وسم <ref> غير سليم؛ لا نص تم توفيره للمراجع المسماة Gupta2008

للاستزادة

Bhandari M.M.- Flora of The Indian Desert, MPS Repros, 39, BGKT Extension, New Pali Road, Jodhpur, India.
Zaigham, N. A. (2003). Strategic sustainable development of groundwater in Thar Desert of Pakistan. Water Resources in the South: Present Scenario and Future Prospects, Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South, Islamabad.
Govt. of India. Ministry of Food & Agriculture booklet (1965)—soil conservation in the Rajasthan Desert—Work of the Desert Afforestation Research station, Jodhpur.
Gupta, R.K. & Prakash Ishwar (1975). Environmental analysis of the Thar Desert. English Book Depot., Dehra Dun.
Kaul, R.N. (1967). Trees or grass lands in the Rajasthan: Old problems and New approaches. Indian Forester, 93: 434-435.
Burdak, L.R. (1982). Recent Advances in Desert Afforestation. Dissertation submitted to Shri R.N. Kaul, Director, Forestry Research, F.R.I., Dehra Dun.
Yashpal, Sahai Baldev, Sood, R.K., and Agarwal, D.P. (1980). "Remote sensing of the 'lost' Saraswati river". Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Earth and Planet Science), V. 89, No. 3, pp. 317–331.
Bakliwal, P.C. and Sharma, S.B. (1980). "On the migration of the river Yamuna". Journal of the Geological Society of India, Vol. 21, Sept. 1980, pp. 461–463.
Bakliwal, P.C. and Grover, A.K. (1988). "Signature and migration of Sarasvati river in Thar desert, Western India". Record of the Geological Survey of India V 116, Pts. 3–8, pp. 77–86.
Rajawat, A.S., Sastry, C.V.S. and Narain, A. (1999-a). Application of pyramidal processing on high resolution IRS-1C data for tracing the migration of the Saraswati river in parts of the Thar desert. in "Vedic Sarasvati, Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India", Memoir Geological Society of India, Bangalore, No. 42, pp. 259–272.
Ramasamy, S.M. (1999). Neotectonic controls on the migration of Sarasvati river of the Great Indian desert. in "Vedic Sarasvati, Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India", Memoir Geological Society of India, Bangalore, No. 42, pp. 153–162.
Rajesh Kumar, M., Rajawat, A.S. and Singh, T.N. (2005). Applications of remote sensing for educidate the Palaeochannels in an extended Thar desert, Western Rajasthan, 8th annual International conference, Map India 2005, New Delhi.

وصلات خارجية

[[voy:صحراء تهر#خطأ لوا في وحدة:Wikidata على السطر 866: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|صحراء تهر]] travel guide from Wikivoyage
نطقب:WWF ecoregion
Dharssi.org.uk, Photos of the Thar desert
Avgustin.net, Photos of the Thar desert in Pakistan side
MIT.gov, आपणो राजस्थान