Our planet is rich in both freshwater and saltwater lakes. Both of them are equally important as the natural water bodies for human existence. There is a vast range of creatures having saltwater as their natural habitat. Apart from such information knowing about their worldly presence is one of the significant aspects. In this regard, did you know about the largest salt lake known in the world? In this blog, we would learn more about Chott el Djerid, the largest salt lake in the world.
About the world largest salt lake.
Located in southern Tunisia, Chott el Djerid is the largest endorheic salt lake known worldwide. It is also presaged as Shott el Jerid or Scott Gerid. As per the Arabic terms, the exact meaning of its name is designated as “Lagoon of the Land of Palms”. More information regarding its geography and location is detailed in the following points:
- The bottommost region of this lake is considered to be located about 30-80 feet below the level of the sea.
- The width of Djerid varies from region to region. For instance, it is only 20 kilometers at its narrowest point throughout the area.IT consists of an eastward inlet of the chott at the narrow part. This region is commonly designated as Chott el Fejej.
- Talking about the length, this lake spans up to an overall length of 250 kilometers throughout the region.
- It has different color shadows varying in different locations. For instance, it seems to be white and green in constant water. The places having a little water movement or tidal conditions show the shadow of light purple color.
- This lake is known to be the largest salt portion of Sahara desert. Having a surface area covering about 7,000 kilometers makes the major part of the desert’s bank.
Climatic conditions.
As revealed by certain sources, the area near and above the lake has typical hot desert climatic conditions. Owing to such exacting weather along with MAR (mean annual rainfall) dropping below 100 millimeters water evaporates from the lake. This evaporation leaves the sal behind along with a heap of stones. The daytime temperature near this lake reaches up to 50 °C most of the time. Also, the region comprises dense solar radiation from summer during the summer season. This can also be considered an important aspect of water evaporation. In summer, the climate over his lake gets more tedious to be detailed. Some of its aspects are pointed below:
- This amazing lake tends to dry up completely in the summer season due to high temperatures and a larger amount of evaporation during the daytime.
It is due to this reason, there do occur numerous fata morgans in the lake’s proximal areas.
Location and surrounding areas.
Sited at 33 ° 42’N 8 ° 26’E in the center-west of Tunisia, the lake can be observed joining the two cities of Tozeur and Kebili. Moreover, small patches of lake say tributaries can be noticed converging into the lake during the winter season. There lies the Grand Erg Oriental desert in the southern region of this lake. Being such important many freshwater irrigation schemes are now practiced and continuing to help remove the excess salt from its soil and expand the productive area nearby.
