fbpx
Wikipedia

Thar Desert

January 01, 1970

The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert.

Thar Desert
Great Indian Desert
Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India
Map of the Thar Desert ecoregion
Ecology
RealmIndomalayan
BiomeDeserts and xeric shrublands
Borders
Geography
Area238,254 km2 (91,990 sq mi)
Countries
States of India and provinces of Pakistan
Coordinates27°N 71°E / 27°N 71°E / 27; 71
Climate typeHot
Conservation
Conservation statusvulnerable[1]
Protected41,833 km2 (18%)[2]

About 85% of the Thar Desert is in India, and about 15% is in Pakistan.[3] The Thar Desert is about 4.56% of the total geographical area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the Indian state of Rajasthan; the portion in India also extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana. The portion in Pakistan extends into the provinces of Sindh[4] and Punjab (the portion in the latter province is referred to as the Cholistan Desert). The Indo-Gangetic Plain lies to the north, west and northeast of the Thar desert, the Rann of Kutch lies to its south, and the Aravali Range borders the desert to the east.

The most recent paleontological discovery in 2023 from the Thar Desert in India, dating back to 167 million years ago, pertains to a herbivorous dinosaur group known as dicraeosaurids. This discovery marks the first of its kind to be unearthed in India and is also the oldest specimen of the group ever recorded in the global fossil record.[5]

History of desertification edit

Ice-age desertification edit

During the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 before present, an approximately 2,400,000 square kilometres (930,000 sq mi) ice sheet covered the Tibetan Plateau,[6][7][8] causing excessive radiative forcing i.e. the ice in Tibet reflected at least four times more radiation energy per unit area into space than ice at higher latitudes, which further cooled overlying atmosphere at that time.[9] This impacted the regional climate. Without the thermal low pressure caused by the heating, there was no monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. This lack of monsoon caused extensive rainfall over the Sahara, expansion of the Thar Desert, more dust deposited into the Arabian Sea, a lowering of the biotic life zones on the Indian subcontinent, and animals responded to this shift in climate with the Javan rusa deer migrating into India.[10]

Desertification due to drying up of Sarasvati river edit

 
Vedic and present-day Gagghar-Hakra river-course, with Aryavarta/Kuru Kingdom, and (pre-)Harappan Hakkra/Sutlej-Yamuna paleochannels as proposed by Clift et al. (2012) and Khonde et al. (2017).[a] See also this satellite image.
1 = ancient river
2 = today's river
3 = today's Thar desert
4 = ancient shore
5 = today's shore
6 = today's town
7 = dried-up Harappan Hakkra course, and pre-Harappan Sutlej paleochannels (Clift et al. (2012)).

10,000-8,000 years ago a paleo channel of Ghaggar-Hakra River - identified with the paleo Sarasvati River, after confluence with Sutlej flowed into the Nara river - a delta channel of the Indus River, changed its course, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers which did not reach the sea and now ends in the Thar desert.[11][12][13][14]

Around 5,000 years ago when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished further, the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) prospered in this area,[11][13][14][b] with the rise of numerous IVC urban sites at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) along this course.[15][web 1]

4,000 years ago when monsoons diminished even further, the dried-up Harkra become an intermittent river, and the urban Harappan civilisation declined, becoming localized in smaller agricultural communities.[11][c][13][12][14]

Geography edit

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

The northeastern part of the Thar Desert lies between the Aravalli Hills. The desert stretches to Punjab and Haryana in 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. Much 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 the strong winds that rise each year before the onset of the monsoon. The Luni River is the only river in the desert.[16] Rainfall is 100 to 500 mm (4 to 20 in) per year, almost all of it between June and September.[3]

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 comes from the weathering of rocks in the region.[17]

Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in the Thar Desert.[18]

Climate edit

The climate is arid and subtropical. Average temperature varies with season, and extremes can range from near-freezing in the winter to more than 50 °C in the summer months. Average annual rainfall ranges from 100 to 500 mm, and occurs during the short July-to-September southwest monsoon.[1]

The desert has both a very dry part (the Marusthali region in the west) and a semidesert part (in the east) that has fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation.[19]

Desertification control edit

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

The soil of the Thar Desert remains dry for much of the year, so it is prone to wind erosion. High-velocity winds blow soil from the desert, depositing some of it on neighboring fertile lands, and causing sand dunes within the desert to shift. To counteract this problem, sand dunes are stabilised by first erecting micro windbreak barriers with scrub material and then by afforestation of the treated dunes—planting the seedlings of shrubs (such as phog, senna, and castor oil plant) and trees (such as gum acacia, Prosopis juliflora, and lebbek tree). The 649-km-long Indira Gandhi Canal brings fresh water to the Thar Desert.[3] It was built to halt any spreading of the desert into fertile areas.

Protected areas edit

There are several protected areas in the Thar Desert:

Biodiversity edit

Fauna edit

Some wildlife species that are fast vanishing in other parts of India are found in the desert in large numbers, including the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), chinkara (Gazella bennettii), and Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) in the Rann of Kutch. This may be partly because they are well adapted to this environment: they are smaller than similar animals that live in other environments, and they are mainly nocturnal. It may also be because grasslands in this region have not been transformed into cropland as fast as in other regions, and because a local community, the Bishnois, has made special efforts to protect them.

Other mammals in the Thar Desert include a subspecies of red fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla) and the caracal, and a number of reptiles dwell there too.

The region is a haven for 141 species of migratory and resident desert birds, including harriers, falcons, buzzards, kestrels, vultures, short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus), tawny eagles (Aquila rapax), greater spotted eagles (Aquila clanga), and laggar falcons (Falco jugger).

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.

  •  
    Peacock on a khejri tree
  •  
    Peafowl eating pieces of chapati in Tharparkar District, Sindh
  •  
    Blackbuck male and female
  •  
    The chinkara or Indian gazelle is found across the Thar Desert.

Flora edit

 
Khumbi mushrooms from Tharparkar, Sindh
 
Prosopis cineraria or khejri or kandi

The natural vegetation of this dry area is classified as northwestern thorn scrub forest (i.e. small, loosely-scattered patches of greenery).[28][29] The densities and sizes of these green patches increase from west to east, following an increase in rainfall. The primary vegetation of the Thar Desert is composed of trees, shrubs, and perennial herb species, including:[30]

The endemic floral species include Calligonum polygonoides, Prosopis cineraria, Acacia nilotica, Tamarix aphylla, and Cenchrus biflorus.[31]

People edit

Main article: Thar people

The Thar people are the natives of the area. The Thar Desert is the most widely populated desert in the world, with a population density of 83 people per km2.[21] In India, the inhabitants comprise Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Muslims. In Pakistan, inhabitants include both Muslims and Hindus.[32]

About 40% of the total population of Rajasthan lives in the Thar Desert.[33] The main occupations of the inhabitants are agriculture and animal husbandry.

Jodhpur, the largest city in the region, lies in the scrub forest zone at the desert's perimeter. Bikaner and Jaisalmer are the largest cities located entirely in the desert.

  •  
    A girl from the Gadia Lohars nomadic tribe of Marwar, cooking her food.
  •  
    Thar life
  •  
    Desert tribes near Jaisalmer, India

Water and housing in the desert edit

In the true desert areas, the only sources of water for animals or humans are small, scattered ponds - some that are natural (tobas) and some that are human-made (johads). The persistence of water scarcity heavily influences life in all areas of the Thar, prompting many inhabitants to adopt a nomadic lifestyle.[citation needed] Most of the permanent human settlements are located near the two seasonal streams of the Karon-Jhar hills. Potable groundwater is also rare in the Thar Desert. Much of it tastes sour due to dissolved minerals. Potable water is mostly available only deep underground. When wells are dug that happen to yield sweet tasting water, people tend to settle near them, but such wells are difficult and dangerous to dig, sometimes claiming the lives of the well-diggers.[citation needed]

Crowded housing conditions are common in some areas.

  •  
    Huts in the Thar Desert
  •  
    Johads are common water sources
  •  
    Tanks for drinking water

Economy edit

Agriculture edit

The Thar is one of the most heavily populated desert areas in the world with the main occupations of its inhabitants being agriculture and animal husbandry.

Agricultural production is mainly from kharif crops, which are grown in the summer season and seeded in June and July. These are then harvested in September and October and include bajra, pulses such as guar, jowar (Sorghum vulgare), maize (zea mays), sesame and groundnuts.

The Thar region of Rajasthan is a major opium production and consumption area.[34][35]

  •  
    Bajra is the main kharif crop in Thar.
  •  
    Mustard fields in a village of Shri Ganganagar district (Rajasthan, India).

Livestock edit

Agroforestry edit

 
Lopping of khejri tree for fodder and fuel in Harsawa village


P. cineraria wood is reported to contain high calorific value and provide high-quality fuel wood. The lopped branches are good as fencing material. Its roots also encourage nitrogen fixation, which produces higher crop yields.

 
Tecomella undulata tree in the village of Harsawa

Ecotourism edit

Desert safaris on camels have become increasingly popular around Jaisalmer. Domestic and international tourists frequent the desert seeking adventure on camels for one to several days. This ecotourism industry ranges from cheaper backpacker treks to plush Arabian night-style campsites replete with banquets and cultural performances. During the treks, tourists are able to view the fragile and beautiful ecosystem of the Thar Desert. This form of tourism provides income to many operators and camel owners in Jaisalmer, as well as employment for many camel trekkers in the desert villages nearby. People from various parts of the world come to see the Pushkar ka Mela (Pushkar Fair) and oases.

  •  
    Camel ride in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer, India
  •  
    Sunrise in the desert

Industry edit

The government of India initiated departmental exploration for oil in 1955 and 1956 in the Jaisalmer area,[37] Oil India Limited discovered natural gas in 1988 in the Jaisalmer basin.[38]

History edit

The Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district has a collection of 180-million-year- old animal and plant fossils.

Jaisalmer State's historical foundations are in the large empire ruled by the Bhati dynasty. The empire stretched from what is now Ghazni[39] in modern-day Afghanistan to what is Sialkot, Lahore and Rawalpindi in modern-day Pakistan[40] to the region that is Bhatinda and Hanumangarh in modern-day India.[41] The empire crumbled over time because of continuous invasions from central Asia. According to Satish Chandra, the Hindu Shahis of Afghanistan made an alliance with the Bhatti rulers of Multhan because they wanted to end the slave raids that were made by the Turkic ruler of Ghazni, but the alliance was broken apart by Alp Tigin in 977 CE. Bhati dominions continued to shift southwards: they ruled Multan, then finally got pushed into Cholistan and Jaisalmer, where Rawal Devaraja built Dera Rawal / Derawar.[42] Jaisalmer was founded as the new capital in 1156 by Maharawal Jaisal Singh and the state took its name from the capital. On 11 December 1818 Jaisalmer became a British protectorate through the Rajputana Agency.[43][44]

Because the kingdom's main source of income had long been levies on caravans, its economy suffered after Bombay became a major port, and sea trade largely replaced trade along the traditional land routes. Maharawals Ranjit Singh and Bairi Sal Singh tried to reverse the economic decline, but the kingdom nevertheless became impoverished. To make matters worse, there was a severe drought and a resulting famine from 1895 to 1900, during the reign of Maharawal Salivahan Singh, which caused the widespread loss of the livestock upon which the increasingly agriculturally based kingdom had come to rely.

In 1965 and 1971, population exchanges took place in the Thar between India and Pakistan; 3,500 Muslims shifted from the Indian section of the Thar to Pakistani Thar, whilst thousands of Hindu families also migrated from Pakistani Thar to the Indian section.[45][46][47]

Thar in ancient literature edit

 
The position of Thar Desert (orange colour) in Iron Age Vedic India
 
Present-day Gagghar-Hakra river-course, with paleochannels as proposed by (Clift et al. (2012)).[48]
1 = ancient river
2 = today's river
3 = today's Thar desert
4 = ancient shore
5 = today's shore
6 = today's town
7 = paelochannels (Clift et al. (2012))

See also edit

 
Amar Sagar, near Jaisalmer

Notes edit

  1. ^ See Clift et al. (2012) map and Honde te al. (2017) map.
  2. ^ In contrast to the mainstream view, Chatterjee et al. (2019) suggest that the river remained perennial till 4,500 years ago.
  3. ^ Giosan et al. (2012):
    • "Contrary to earlier assumptions that a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, identified by some with the mythical Sarasvati, watered the Harappan heartland on the interfluve between the Indus and Ganges basins, we show that only monsoonal-fed rivers were active there during the Holocene."
    • "Numerous speculations have advanced the idea that the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system, at times identified with the lost mythical river of Sarasvati (e.g., 4, 5, 7, 19), was a large glacier fed Himalayan river. Potential sources for this river include the Yamuna River, the Sutlej River, or both rivers. However, the lack of large-scale incision on the interfluve demonstrates that large, glacier-fed rivers did not flow across the Ghaggar-Hakra region during the Holocene
    • "The present Ghaggar-Hakra valley and its tributary rivers are currently dry or have seasonal flows. Yet rivers were undoubtedly active in this region during the Urban Harappan Phase. We recovered sandy fluvial deposits approximately 5;400 y old at Fort Abbas in Pakistan (SI Text), and recent work (33) on the upper Ghaggar-Hakra interfluve in India also documented Holocene channel sands that are approximately 4;300 y old. On the upper interfluve, fine-grained floodplain deposition continued until the end of the Late Harappan Phase, as recent as 2,900 y ago (33) (Fig. 2B). This widespread fluvial redistribution of sediment suggests that reliable monsoon rains were able to sustain perennial rivers earlier during the Holocene and explains why Harappan settlements flourished along the entire Ghaggar-Hakra system without access to a glacier-fed river."
    Valdiya (2013) dispute this, arguing that it was a large perennial river draining the high mountains as late as 3700–2500 years ago. Giosan et al. (2013) have responded to, and rejected, Valdiya's arguments.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Thar Desert". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  2. ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; et al. (2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545 [Supplemental material 2 table S1b]. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
  3. ^ a b c 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.
  4. ^ Sharma, K. K.; Mehra, S. P. (2009). "The Thar of Rajasthan (India): Ecology and Conservation of a Desert Ecosystem". In Sivaperuman, C.; Baqri, Q. H.; Ramaswamy, G.; Naseema, M. (eds.). Faunal Ecology and Conservation of the Great Indian Desert. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-87409-6_1. ISBN 978-3-540-87408-9.
  5. ^ "The Oldest Plant-Eating Dinosaur Has Been Found in India". The New York Times. 19 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  6. ^ Kuhle, Matthias (1998). "Reconstruction of the 2.4 Million km2 Late Pleistocene Ice Sheet on the Tibetan Plateau and its Impact on the Global Climate". Quaternary International. 45/46: 71–108. Bibcode:1998QuInt..45...71K. doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(97)00008-6.
  7. ^ Kuhle, M (2004). "The High Glacial (Last Ice Age and LGM) ice cover in High and Central Asia". In Ehlers, J.; Gibbard, P.L. (eds.). Development in Quaternary Science 2c (Quaternary Glaciation – Extent and Chronology, Part III: South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica). pp. 175–99.
  8. ^ Kuhle, M. (1999). "Tibet and High Asia V. Results of Investigations into High Mountain Geomorphology, Paleo-Glaciology and Climatology of the Pleistocene". GeoJournal. 47 (1–2): 3–276. doi:10.1023/A:1007039510460. S2CID 128089823. See chapter entitled: "Reconstruction of an approximately complete Quaternary Tibetan Inland Glaciation between the Mt. Everest and Cho Oyu Massifs and the Aksai Chin. – A new glaciogeomorphological southeast-northwest diagonal profile through Tibet and its consequences for the glacial isostasy and Ice Age cycle".
  9. ^ Kuhle, M. (1988). "The Pleistocene Glaciation of Tibet and the Onset of Ice Ages – An Autocycle Hypothesis". GeoJournal. 17 (4): 581–96. doi:10.1007/BF00209444. S2CID 129234912. Tibet and High-Asia I. Results of the Sino-German Joint Expeditions (I).
  10. ^ Kuhle, Matthias (2001). "The Tibetan Ice Sheet; its Impact on the Palaeomonsoon and Relation to the Earth's Orbital Variations". Polarforschung. 71 (1/2): 1–13.
  11. ^ a b c Giosan et al. 2012.
  12. ^ a b Maemoku et al. 2013.
  13. ^ a b c Clift et al. 2012.
  14. ^ a b c Singh et al. 2017.
  15. ^ Sankaran 1999.
  16. ^ Laity, J. J. (2009). Deserts and Desert Environments. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781444300741.
  17. ^ Ramesh, R.; Jani, R. A. & Bhushan, R. (1993). "Stable isotopic evidence for the origin of salt lakes in the Thar desert". Journal of Arid Environments. 25 (1): 117–123. Bibcode:1993JArEn..25..117R. doi:10.1006/jare.1993.1047.
  18. ^ Gwen Robbins Schug, Subhash R. Walimbe (2016). A Companion to South Asia in the Past. John Wiley & Sons. p. 64. ISBN 978-1119055471. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Rahmani, A. R. (1989). "The uncertain future of the Desert National Park in Rajasthan, India". Environmental Conservation. 16 (3): 237–244. doi:10.1017/S0376892900009322. S2CID 83995201.
  21. ^ a b c Singh, P. (ed.) (2007). "Report of the Task Force on Grasslands and Deserts" 10 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Government of India Planning Commission, New Delhi.
  22. ^ WII (2015). Conservation Reserves 10 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
  23. ^ Ghalib, S. A.; et al. (2008). "Bioecology of Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, Districts Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur, Sindh". Pakistan Journal of Zoology. 40 (1): 37–43. ISSN 0030-9923.
  24. ^ a b . Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  25. ^ Ghalib, S. A.; et al. (2014). . International Journal of Biology and Biotechnology (Pakistan). 10 (4): 601–611. ISSN 1810-2719. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  26. ^ "Lal Suhanra". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  27. ^ "UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  28. ^ Champion, H. G.; Seth, S. K. (1968). A revised survey of the forest types of India. Government of India Press. OCLC 549213.
  29. ^ Negi, S. S. (1996). Biosphere Reserves in India: Landuse, Biodiversity and Conservation. Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. ISBN 9788173870439.
  30. ^ Kaul, R. N. (1970). Afforestation in arid zones. Monographiiae Biologicae. Vol. 20. The Hague. OCLC 115047.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  31. ^ Khan, T. I. & Frost, S. (2001). "Floral biodiversity: a question of survival in the Indian Thar Desert". Environmentalist. 21 (3): 231–236. doi:10.1023/A:1017991606974. S2CID 82472637.
  32. ^ Raza, Hassan (5 March 2012). "Mithi: Where a Hindu fasts and a Muslim does not slaughter cows". Dawn.
  33. ^ Gupta, M. L. (2008). Rajasthan Gyan Kosh. 3rd Edition. Jojo Granthagar, Jodhpur. ISBN 81-86103-05-8
  34. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  35. ^ . Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  36. ^ "Breeds of Livestock - Tharparkar Cattle — Breeds of Livestock, Department of Animal Science". afs.okstate.edu. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  37. ^ . Archived from the original on 14 April 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  38. ^ OilIndia.NIC.in 30 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ "Rajasthan or the Central and Western Rajpoot States, Volume 2, page 197-198". Higginbotham And Co. Madras. 14 August 2018.
  40. ^ "Imperial Gazetter of India, Volume 21, page 272 - Imperial Gazetteer of India - Digital South Asia Library". Dsal.uchicago.edu. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  41. ^ . Bhatinda Government. 14 August 2018. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  42. ^ "Provincial Gazetteers Of India: Rajputana". Government of India. 14 August 2018.
  43. ^ "Princely States of India".
  44. ^ "Provincial Gazetteers Of India: Rajputana". Government of India. 14 August 2018.
  45. ^ Hasan, Arif; Raza, Mansoor (2009). Migration and Small Towns in Pakistan. IIED. pp. 15–16. ISBN 9781843697343.
  46. ^ Maini, Tridivesh Singh (15 August 2012). "Not just another border". Himal South Asian.
  47. ^ Arisar, Allah Bux (6 October 2015). . News Lens Pakistan. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
  48. ^ See map

Web edit

  1. ^ Mythical Saraswati River, Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 20 March 2013. 9 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine

Sources edit

  • Chatterjee, Anirban; Ray, Jyotiranjan S.; Shukla, Anil D.; Pande, Kanchan (20 November 2019). "On the existence of a perennial river in the Harappan heartland". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 17221. Bibcode:2019NatSR...917221C. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53489-4. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6868222. PMID 31748611.
  • Clift, Peter D.; Carter, Andrew; Giosan, Liviu; Durcan, Julie; et al. (2012), "U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and capture of the Yamuna River", Geology, 40 (3): 211–214, Bibcode:2012Geo....40..211C, doi:10.1130/g32840.1, S2CID 130765891
  • Giosan; et al. (2012). "Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization". PNAS. 109 (26): E1688–E1694. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109E1688G. doi:10.1073/pnas.1112743109. PMC 3387054. PMID 22645375.
  • Giosan, Liviu; Clift, Peter D.; Macklin, Mark G.; Fuller, Dorian Q. (10 October 2013). "Sarasvati II". Current Science. 105 (7): 888–890. JSTOR 24098502.
  • Khonde, Nitesh; Kumar Singh, Sunil; Maur, D. M.; Rai, Vinai K.; Chamyal, L. S.; Giosan, Liviu (2017), "Tracing the Vedic Saraswati River in the Great Rann of Kachchh", Scientific Reports, 7 (1): 5476, Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.5476K, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05745-8, PMC 5511136, PMID 28710495
  • Maemoku, Hideaki; Shitaoka, Yorinao; Nagatomo, Tsuneto; Yagi, Hiroshi (2013). "Geomorphological Constraints on the Ghaggar River Regime During the Mature Harappan Period". In Giosan, Liviu; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Nicoll, Kathleen; Flad, Rowan K.; Clift, Peter D. (eds.). Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations. American Geophysical Union Monograph Series 198. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-70443-1.
  • Sankaran, A. V. (25 October 1999). . Current Science. 77 (8): 1054–1060. JSTOR 24103577. Archived from the original on 19 September 2004.
  • Singh, Ajit; et al. (2017). "Counter-intuitive influence of Himalayan river morphodynamics on Indus Civilisation urban settlements". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 1617. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8.1617S. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01643-9. PMC 5705636. PMID 29184098.
  • Valdiya, K.S. (2013). "The River Saraswati was a Himalayan-born river" (PDF). Current Science. 104 (1): 42.

Further reading edit

  • 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.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thar Desert.
  •   Thar Desert travel guide from Wikivoyage
  • Rajasthan Tourism
  • "Thar Desert". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  • , Photos of the Thar Desert
  • , Photos of the Thar Desert in Pakistan side
  • MIT.gov[permanent dead link], आपणो राजस्थान

January 01, 1970
thar, desert, also, known, great, indian, desert, arid, region, north, western, part, indian, subcontinent, that, covers, area, india, pakistan, world, 18th, largest, desert, world, largest, subtropical, desert, great, indian, desert, rajasthan, indiamap, ecor. The Thar Desert also known as the Great Indian Desert is an arid region in the north western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200 000 km2 77 000 sq mi in India and Pakistan It is the world s 18th largest desert and the world s 9th largest hot subtropical desert Thar DesertGreat Indian DesertThar Desert in Rajasthan IndiaMap of the Thar Desert ecoregionEcologyRealmIndomalayanBiomeDeserts and xeric shrublandsBordersNorthwestern thorn scrub forestsRann of Kutch seasonal salt marshGeographyArea238 254 km2 91 990 sq mi CountriesIndiaPakistanStates of India and provinces of PakistanIndia RajasthanGujaratHaryanaPunjabPakistan PunjabSindhCoordinates27 N 71 E 27 N 71 E 27 71Climate typeHotConservationConservation statusvulnerable 1 Protected41 833 km2 18 2 About 85 of the Thar Desert is in India and about 15 is in Pakistan 3 The Thar Desert is about 4 56 of the total geographical area of India More than 60 of the desert lies in the Indian state of Rajasthan the portion in India also extends into Gujarat Punjab and Haryana The portion in Pakistan extends into the provinces of Sindh 4 and Punjab the portion in the latter province is referred to as the Cholistan Desert The Indo Gangetic Plain lies to the north west and northeast of the Thar desert the Rann of Kutch lies to its south and the Aravali Range borders the desert to the east The most recent paleontological discovery in 2023 from the Thar Desert in India dating back to 167 million years ago pertains to a herbivorous dinosaur group known as dicraeosaurids This discovery marks the first of its kind to be unearthed in India and is also the oldest specimen of the group ever recorded in the global fossil record 5 Contents 1 History of desertification 1 1 Ice age desertification 1 2 Desertification due to drying up of Sarasvati river 2 Geography 2 1 Climate 2 2 Desertification control 2 3 Protected areas 3 Biodiversity 3 1 Fauna 3 2 Flora 4 People 4 1 Water and housing in the desert 5 Economy 5 1 Agriculture 5 2 Livestock 5 3 Agroforestry 5 4 Ecotourism 5 5 Industry 6 History 6 1 Thar in ancient literature 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 9 1 Web 10 Sources 11 Further reading 12 External linksHistory of desertification editIce age desertification edit During the Last Glacial Maximum 20 000 before present an approximately 2 400 000 square kilometres 930 000 sq mi ice sheet covered the Tibetan Plateau 6 7 8 causing excessive radiative forcing i e the ice in Tibet reflected at least four times more radiation energy per unit area into space than ice at higher latitudes which further cooled overlying atmosphere at that time 9 This impacted the regional climate Without the thermal low pressure caused by the heating there was no monsoon over the Indian subcontinent This lack of monsoon caused extensive rainfall over the Sahara expansion of the Thar Desert more dust deposited into the Arabian Sea a lowering of the biotic life zones on the Indian subcontinent and animals responded to this shift in climate with the Javan rusa deer migrating into India 10 Desertification due to drying up of Sarasvati river edit nbsp Vedic and present day Gagghar Hakra river course with Aryavarta Kuru Kingdom and pre Harappan Hakkra Sutlej Yamuna paleochannels as proposed by Clift et al 2012 and Khonde et al 2017 a See also this satellite image 1 ancient river 2 today s river 3 today s Thar desert 4 ancient shore 5 today s shore 6 today s town 7 dried up Harappan Hakkra course and pre Harappan Sutlej paleochannels Clift et al 2012 10 000 8 000 years ago a paleo channel of Ghaggar Hakra River identified with the paleo Sarasvati River after confluence with Sutlej flowed into the Nara river a delta channel of the Indus River changed its course leaving the Ghaggar Hakra as a system of monsoon fed rivers which did not reach the sea and now ends in the Thar desert 11 12 13 14 Around 5 000 years ago when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished further the Indus Valley Civilisation IVC prospered in this area 11 13 14 b with the rise of numerous IVC urban sites at Kalibangan Rajasthan Banawali and Rakhigarhi Haryana Dholavira and Lothal Gujarat along this course 15 web 1 4 000 years ago when monsoons diminished even further the dried up Harkra become an intermittent river and the urban Harappan civilisation declined becoming localized in smaller agricultural communities 11 c 13 12 14 Geography edit nbsp A NASA satellite image of the Thar Desert with the India Pakistan border nbsp View of the Thar Desert The northeastern part of the Thar Desert lies between the Aravalli Hills The desert stretches to Punjab and Haryana in 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 Much 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 the strong winds that rise each year before the onset of the monsoon The Luni River is the only river in the desert 16 Rainfall is 100 to 500 mm 4 to 20 in per year almost all of it between June and September 3 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 comes from the weathering of rocks in the region 17 Lithic tools belonging to the prehistoric Aterian culture of the Maghreb have been discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in the Thar Desert 18 Climate edit The climate is arid and subtropical Average temperature varies with season and extremes can range from near freezing in the winter to more than 50 C in the summer months Average annual rainfall ranges from 100 to 500 mm and occurs during the short July to September southwest monsoon 1 The desert has both a very dry part the Marusthali region in the west and a semidesert part in the east that has fewer sand dunes and slightly more precipitation 19 Desertification control edit nbsp Greening desert with plantations of jojoba at Fatehpur Shekhawati nbsp Checking of shifting sand dunes through plantations of Acacia tortilis near Laxmangarh town nbsp Indira Gandhi Canal flowing in Thar Desert near Sattasar village Bikaner district Rajasthan nbsp Due to severe weather conditions few highways are in the Thar Desert Shown here is a road in Tharparkar district of Sindh Pakistan The soil of the Thar Desert remains dry for much of the year so it is prone to wind erosion High velocity winds blow soil from the desert depositing some of it on neighboring fertile lands and causing sand dunes within the desert to shift To counteract this problem sand dunes are stabilised by first erecting micro windbreak barriers with scrub material and then by afforestation of the treated dunes planting the seedlings of shrubs such as phog senna and castor oil plant and trees such as gum acacia Prosopis juliflora and lebbek tree The 649 km long Indira Gandhi Canal brings fresh water to the Thar Desert 3 It was built to halt any spreading of the desert into fertile areas Protected areas edit There are several protected areas in the Thar Desert In India The Desert National Park in Rajasthan covers 3 162 km2 1 221 sq mi and represents the Thar Desert ecosystem 20 it includes 44 villages 21 Its diverse fauna includes the great Indian bustard Chirotis nigricaps blackbuck chinkara fox Bengal fox wolf and caracal Seashells and massive fossilized tree trunks in this park record the geological history of the desert The Tal Chhapar Sanctuary covers 7 km2 2 7 sq mi and is an Important Bird Area 21 It is located in the Churu district 210 km 130 mi from Jaipur in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan This sanctuary is home to large populations of blackbuck fox caracal partridge and sand grouse The Sundha Mata Conservation Reserve covers 117 49 km2 45 36 sq mi and is located in the Jalore District of Rajasthan 22 In Pakistan The Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary covers 6 300 km2 2 400 sq mi 23 it is located in is located in Mirpurkhas District 24 It contains the largest population of the endangered mugger crocodile in Pakistan 24 The Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary located in Badin District is an Important Bird Area and Ramsar Site with 30 species of mammals 112 bird species 20 reptiles and 22 important plant species 25 The Lal Suhanra Biosphere Reserve and National Park is a UNESCO declared biosphere reserve 26 which covers 65 791 hectares 254 02 sq mi the Cholistan region of the Greater Thar Desert 27 Biodiversity editFauna edit Some wildlife species that are fast vanishing in other parts of India are found in the desert in large numbers including the blackbuck Antilope cervicapra chinkara Gazella bennettii and Indian wild ass Equus hemionus khur in the Rann of Kutch This may be partly because they are well adapted to this environment they are smaller than similar animals that live in other environments and they are mainly nocturnal It may also be because grasslands in this region have not been transformed into cropland as fast as in other regions and because a local community the Bishnois has made special efforts to protect them Other mammals in the Thar Desert include a subspecies of red fox Vulpes vulpes pusilla and the caracal and a number of reptiles dwell there too The region is a haven for 141 species of migratory and resident desert birds including harriers falcons buzzards kestrels vultures short toed eagles Circaetus gallicus tawny eagles Aquila rapax greater spotted eagles Aquila clanga and laggar falcons Falco jugger 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 nbsp Peacock on a khejri tree nbsp Peafowl eating pieces ofchapati in Tharparkar District Sindh nbsp Blackbuck male and female nbsp The chinkara or Indian gazelle is found across the Thar Desert Flora edit nbsp Khumbi mushrooms from Tharparkar Sindh nbsp Prosopis cineraria or khejri or kandi The natural vegetation of this dry area is classified as northwestern thorn scrub forest i e small loosely scattered patches of greenery 28 29 The densities and sizes of these green patches increase from west to east following an increase in rainfall The primary vegetation of the Thar Desert is composed of trees shrubs and perennial herb species including 30 Trees and shrubs Aerva javanica Balanites roxburghii Calotropis procera Capparis decidua Clerodendrum multiflorum Commiphora mukul Cordia sinensis Crotalaria burhia Euphorbia caducifolia Euphorbia neriifolia Grewia tenax Leptadenia pyrotechnica Lycium barbarum Maytenus emarginata Mimosa hamata Suaeda fruticosa Vachellia jacquemontii Ziziphus nummularia and Z zizyphus Herbs and grasses Ochthochloa compressa Dactyloctenium scindicum Cenchrus biflorus Cenchrus setiger Lasiurus scindicus Cynodon dactylon Panicum turgidum Panicum antidotale Dichanthium annulatum Sporobolus marginatus Saccharum spontaneum Cenchrus ciliaris Desmostachya bipinnata Eragrostis species Ergamopagan species Phragmites species Tribulus terrestris Typha species Sorghum halepense Citrullus colocynthis The endemic floral species include Calligonum polygonoides Prosopis cineraria Acacia nilotica Tamarix aphylla and Cenchrus biflorus 31 People editMain article Thar people The Thar people are the natives of the area The Thar Desert is the most widely populated desert in the world with a population density of 83 people per km2 21 In India the inhabitants comprise Hindus Jains Sikhs and Muslims In Pakistan inhabitants include both Muslims and Hindus 32 About 40 of the total population of Rajasthan lives in the Thar Desert 33 The main occupations of the inhabitants are agriculture and animal husbandry Jodhpur the largest city in the region lies in the scrub forest zone at the desert s perimeter Bikaner and Jaisalmer are the largest cities located entirely in the desert nbsp A girl from the Gadia Lohars nomadic tribe of Marwar cooking her food nbsp Thar life nbsp Desert tribes near Jaisalmer India Water and housing in the desert edit In the true desert areas the only sources of water for animals or humans are small scattered ponds some that are natural tobas and some that are human made johads The persistence of water scarcity heavily influences life in all areas of the Thar prompting many inhabitants to adopt a nomadic lifestyle citation needed Most of the permanent human settlements are located near the two seasonal streams of the Karon Jhar hills Potable groundwater is also rare in the Thar Desert Much of it tastes sour due to dissolved minerals Potable water is mostly available only deep underground When wells are dug that happen to yield sweet tasting water people tend to settle near them but such wells are difficult and dangerous to dig sometimes claiming the lives of the well diggers citation needed Crowded housing conditions are common in some areas nbsp Huts in the Thar Desert nbsp Johads are common water sources nbsp Tanks for drinking waterEconomy editAgriculture edit The Thar is one of the most heavily populated desert areas in the world with the main occupations of its inhabitants being agriculture and animal husbandry Agricultural production is mainly from kharif crops which are grown in the summer season and seeded in June and July These are then harvested in September and October and include bajra pulses such as guar jowar Sorghum vulgare maize zea mays sesame and groundnuts The Thar region of Rajasthan is a major opium production and consumption area 34 35 nbsp Bajra is the main kharif crop in Thar nbsp Mustard fields in a village of Shri Ganganagar district Rajasthan India Livestock edit nbsp Thari cow breed originating from Tharparkar Sindh popular since World War I 36 nbsp Cattle in the Thar Desert Agroforestry edit nbsp Lopping of khejri tree for fodder and fuel in Harsawa village P cineraria wood is reported to contain high calorific value and provide high quality fuel wood The lopped branches are good as fencing material Its roots also encourage nitrogen fixation which produces higher crop yields nbsp Tecomella undulata tree in the village of Harsawa Ecotourism edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed December 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Desert safaris on camels have become increasingly popular around Jaisalmer Domestic and international tourists frequent the desert seeking adventure on camels for one to several days This ecotourism industry ranges from cheaper backpacker treks to plush Arabian night style campsites replete with banquets and cultural performances During the treks tourists are able to view the fragile and beautiful ecosystem of the Thar Desert This form of tourism provides income to many operators and camel owners in Jaisalmer as well as employment for many camel trekkers in the desert villages nearby People from various parts of the world come to see the Pushkar ka Mela Pushkar Fair and oases nbsp Camel ride in the Thar Desert near Jaisalmer India nbsp Sunrise in the desert Industry edit The government of India initiated departmental exploration for oil in 1955 and 1956 in the Jaisalmer area 37 Oil India Limited discovered natural gas in 1988 in the Jaisalmer basin 38 History editThe Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district has a collection of 180 million year old animal and plant fossils Jaisalmer State s historical foundations are in the large empire ruled by the Bhati dynasty The empire stretched from what is now Ghazni 39 in modern day Afghanistan to what is Sialkot Lahore and Rawalpindi in modern day Pakistan 40 to the region that is Bhatinda and Hanumangarh in modern day India 41 The empire crumbled over time because of continuous invasions from central Asia According to Satish Chandra the Hindu Shahis of Afghanistan made an alliance with the Bhatti rulers of Multhan because they wanted to end the slave raids that were made by the Turkic ruler of Ghazni but the alliance was broken apart by Alp Tigin in 977 CE Bhati dominions continued to shift southwards they ruled Multan then finally got pushed into Cholistan and Jaisalmer where Rawal Devaraja built Dera Rawal Derawar 42 Jaisalmer was founded as the new capital in 1156 by Maharawal Jaisal Singh and the state took its name from the capital On 11 December 1818 Jaisalmer became a British protectorate through the Rajputana Agency 43 44 Because the kingdom s main source of income had long been levies on caravans its economy suffered after Bombay became a major port and sea trade largely replaced trade along the traditional land routes Maharawals Ranjit Singh and Bairi Sal Singh tried to reverse the economic decline but the kingdom nevertheless became impoverished To make matters worse there was a severe drought and a resulting famine from 1895 to 1900 during the reign of Maharawal Salivahan Singh which caused the widespread loss of the livestock upon which the increasingly agriculturally based kingdom had come to rely In 1965 and 1971 population exchanges took place in the Thar between India and Pakistan 3 500 Muslims shifted from the Indian section of the Thar to Pakistani Thar whilst thousands of Hindu families also migrated from Pakistani Thar to the Indian section 45 46 47 Thar in ancient literature edit nbsp The position of Thar Desert orange colour in Iron Age Vedic India nbsp Present day Gagghar Hakra river course with paleochannels as proposed by Clift et al 2012 48 1 ancient river 2 today s river 3 today s Thar desert 4 ancient shore 5 today s shore 6 today s town 7 paelochannels Clift et al 2012 See also edit nbsp Environment portal nbsp Amar Sagar near Jaisalmer Arid Forest Research Institute Arid Lands Information Network Aridification Cholistan Desert Nara desert Cyclone Phet tracked directly over the desert Deforestation Geography of India History of Thar List of deserts by area Marwar Pokhran Thari peopleNotes edit See Clift et al 2012 map and Honde te al 2017 map In contrast to the mainstream view Chatterjee et al 2019 suggest that the river remained perennial till 4 500 years ago Giosan et al 2012 Contrary to earlier assumptions that a large glacier fed Himalayan river identified by some with the mythical Sarasvati watered the Harappan heartland on the interfluve between the Indus and Ganges basins we show that only monsoonal fed rivers were active there during the Holocene Numerous speculations have advanced the idea that the Ghaggar Hakra fluvial system at times identified with the lost mythical river of Sarasvati e g 4 5 7 19 was a large glacier fed Himalayan river Potential sources for this river include the Yamuna River the Sutlej River or both rivers However the lack of large scale incision on the interfluve demonstrates that large glacier fed rivers did not flow across the Ghaggar Hakra region during the Holocene The present Ghaggar Hakra valley and its tributary rivers are currently dry or have seasonal flows Yet rivers were undoubtedly active in this region during the Urban Harappan Phase We recovered sandy fluvial deposits approximately 5 400 y old at Fort Abbas in Pakistan SI Text and recent work 33 on the upper Ghaggar Hakra interfluve in India also documented Holocene channel sands that are approximately 4 300 y old On the upper interfluve fine grained floodplain deposition continued until the end of the Late Harappan Phase as recent as 2 900 y ago 33 Fig 2B This widespread fluvial redistribution of sediment suggests that reliable monsoon rains were able to sustain perennial rivers earlier during the Holocene and explains why Harappan settlements flourished along the entire Ghaggar Hakra system without access to a glacier fed river Valdiya 2013 dispute this arguing that it was a large perennial river draining the high mountains as late as 3700 2500 years ago Giosan et al 2013 have responded to and rejected Valdiya s arguments References edit a b Thar Desert Terrestrial Ecoregions World Wildlife Fund Dinerstein Eric Olson David et al 2017 An Ecoregion Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm BioScience 67 6 534 545 Supplemental material 2 table S1b doi 10 1093 biosci bix014 PMC 5451287 PMID 28608869 a b c Sinha R K Bhatia S amp Vishnoi R 1996 Desertification control and rangeland management in the Thar desert of India RALA Report No 200 115 123 Sharma K K Mehra S P 2009 The Thar of Rajasthan India Ecology and Conservation of a Desert Ecosystem In Sivaperuman C Baqri Q H Ramaswamy G Naseema M eds Faunal Ecology and Conservation of the Great Indian Desert Berlin Heidelberg Springer pp 1 11 doi 10 1007 978 3 540 87409 6 1 ISBN 978 3 540 87408 9 The Oldest Plant Eating Dinosaur Has Been Found in India The New York Times 19 August 2023 Retrieved 23 August 2023 Kuhle Matthias 1998 Reconstruction of the 2 4 Million km2 Late Pleistocene Ice Sheet on the Tibetan Plateau and its Impact on the Global Climate Quaternary International 45 46 71 108 Bibcode 1998QuInt 45 71K doi 10 1016 S1040 6182 97 00008 6 Kuhle M 2004 The High Glacial Last Ice Age and LGM ice cover in High and Central Asia In Ehlers J Gibbard P L eds Development in Quaternary Science 2c Quaternary Glaciation Extent and Chronology Part III South America Asia Africa Australia Antarctica pp 175 99 Kuhle M 1999 Tibet and High Asia V Results of Investigations into High Mountain Geomorphology Paleo Glaciology and Climatology of the Pleistocene GeoJournal 47 1 2 3 276 doi 10 1023 A 1007039510460 S2CID 128089823 See chapter entitled Reconstruction of an approximately complete Quaternary Tibetan Inland Glaciation between the Mt Everest and Cho Oyu Massifs and the Aksai Chin A new glaciogeomorphological southeast northwest diagonal profile through Tibet and its consequences for the glacial isostasy and Ice Age cycle Kuhle M 1988 The Pleistocene Glaciation of Tibet and the Onset of Ice Ages An Autocycle Hypothesis GeoJournal 17 4 581 96 doi 10 1007 BF00209444 S2CID 129234912 Tibet and High Asia I Results of the Sino German Joint Expeditions I Kuhle Matthias 2001 The Tibetan Ice Sheet its Impact on the Palaeomonsoon and Relation to the Earth s Orbital Variations Polarforschung 71 1 2 1 13 a b c Giosan et al 2012 a b Maemoku et al 2013 a b c Clift et al 2012 a b c Singh et al 2017 Sankaran 1999 Laity J J 2009 Deserts and Desert Environments John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 9781444300741 Ramesh R Jani R A amp Bhushan R 1993 Stable isotopic evidence for the origin of salt lakes in the Thar desert Journal of Arid Environments 25 1 117 123 Bibcode 1993JArEn 25 117R doi 10 1006 jare 1993 1047 Gwen Robbins Schug Subhash R Walimbe 2016 A Companion to South Asia in the Past John Wiley amp Sons p 64 ISBN 978 1119055471 Retrieved 6 May 2016 Sharma K K S Kulshreshtha A R Rahmani 2013 Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan India General Background and Ecology of Vertebrates Springer Science amp Business Media New York Rahmani A R 1989 The uncertain future of the Desert National Park in Rajasthan India Environmental Conservation 16 3 237 244 doi 10 1017 S0376892900009322 S2CID 83995201 a b c Singh P ed 2007 Report of the Task Force on Grasslands and Deserts Archived 10 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine Government of India Planning Commission New Delhi WII 2015 Conservation Reserves Archived 10 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun Ghalib S A et al 2008 Bioecology of Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary Districts Ghotki Sukkur and Khairpur Sindh Pakistan Journal of Zoology 40 1 37 43 ISSN 0030 9923 a b Protected Areas Archived from the original on 3 February 2020 Retrieved 21 April 2020 Ghalib S A et al 2014 Current distribution and status of the mammals birds and reptiles in Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary Sindh International Journal of Biology and Biotechnology Pakistan 10 4 601 611 ISSN 1810 2719 Archived from the original on 12 April 2023 Retrieved 21 August 2022 Lal Suhanra UNESCO Retrieved 28 December 2016 UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory www unesco org Retrieved 21 April 2020 Champion H G Seth S K 1968 A revised survey of the forest types of India Government of India Press OCLC 549213 Negi S S 1996 Biosphere Reserves in India Landuse Biodiversity and Conservation Delhi Indus Publishing Company ISBN 9788173870439 Kaul R N 1970 Afforestation in arid zones Monographiiae Biologicae Vol 20 The Hague OCLC 115047 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Khan T I amp Frost S 2001 Floral biodiversity a question of survival in the Indian Thar Desert Environmentalist 21 3 231 236 doi 10 1023 A 1017991606974 S2CID 82472637 Raza Hassan 5 March 2012 Mithi Where a Hindu fasts and a Muslim does not slaughter cows Dawn Gupta M L 2008 Rajasthan Gyan Kosh 3rd Edition Jojo Granthagar Jodhpur ISBN 81 86103 05 8 ICMR Bulletin vol 38 No 1 3 Pattern and Process of Drug and Alcohol Use in India PDF Archived from the original PDF on 28 March 2022 Retrieved 10 May 2022 Will Rajasthan opium farmers vote for change Archived from the original on 10 May 2022 Retrieved 10 May 2022 Breeds of Livestock Tharparkar Cattle Breeds of Livestock Department of Animal Science afs okstate edu Retrieved 5 August 2019 PlanningCommission NIC in Archived from the original on 14 April 2006 Retrieved 16 November 2009 OilIndia NIC in Archived 30 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine Rajasthan or the Central and Western Rajpoot States Volume 2 page 197 198 Higginbotham And Co Madras 14 August 2018 Imperial Gazetter of India Volume 21 page 272 Imperial Gazetteer of India Digital South Asia Library Dsal uchicago edu 18 February 2013 Retrieved 22 November 2013 Bhatinda Government District at A glance Origin Bhatinda Government 14 August 2018 Archived from the original on 10 January 2011 Retrieved 14 August 2018 Provincial Gazetteers Of India Rajputana Government of India 14 August 2018 Princely States of India Provincial Gazetteers Of India Rajputana Government of India 14 August 2018 Hasan Arif Raza Mansoor 2009 Migration and Small Towns in Pakistan IIED pp 15 16 ISBN 9781843697343 Maini Tridivesh Singh 15 August 2012 Not just another border Himal South Asian Arisar Allah Bux 6 October 2015 Families separated by Pak India border yearn to see their loved ones News Lens Pakistan Archived from the original on 25 December 2016 Retrieved 25 December 2016 See map Web edit Mythical Saraswati River Press Information Bureau Government of India 20 March 2013 Archived 9 October 2016 at the Wayback MachineSources editChatterjee Anirban Ray Jyotiranjan S Shukla Anil D Pande Kanchan 20 November 2019 On the existence of a perennial river in the Harappan heartland Scientific Reports 9 1 17221 Bibcode 2019NatSR 917221C doi 10 1038 s41598 019 53489 4 ISSN 2045 2322 PMC 6868222 PMID 31748611 Clift Peter D Carter Andrew Giosan Liviu Durcan Julie et al 2012 U Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and capture of the Yamuna River Geology 40 3 211 214 Bibcode 2012Geo 40 211C doi 10 1130 g32840 1 S2CID 130765891 Giosan et al 2012 Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization PNAS 109 26 E1688 E1694 Bibcode 2012PNAS 109E1688G doi 10 1073 pnas 1112743109 PMC 3387054 PMID 22645375 Giosan Liviu Clift Peter D Macklin Mark G Fuller Dorian Q 10 October 2013 Sarasvati II Current Science 105 7 888 890 JSTOR 24098502 Khonde Nitesh Kumar Singh Sunil Maur D M Rai Vinai K Chamyal L S Giosan Liviu 2017 Tracing the Vedic Saraswati River in the Great Rann of Kachchh Scientific Reports 7 1 5476 Bibcode 2017NatSR 7 5476K doi 10 1038 s41598 017 05745 8 PMC 5511136 PMID 28710495 Maemoku Hideaki Shitaoka Yorinao Nagatomo Tsuneto Yagi Hiroshi 2013 Geomorphological Constraints on the Ghaggar River Regime During the Mature Harappan Period In Giosan Liviu Fuller Dorian Q Nicoll Kathleen Flad Rowan K Clift Peter D eds Climates Landscapes and Civilizations American Geophysical Union Monograph Series 198 John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 1 118 70443 1 Sankaran A V 25 October 1999 Saraswati The ancient river lost in the desert Current Science 77 8 1054 1060 JSTOR 24103577 Archived from the original on 19 September 2004 Singh Ajit et al 2017 Counter intuitive influence of Himalayan river morphodynamics on Indus Civilisation urban settlements Nature Communications 8 1 1617 Bibcode 2017NatCo 8 1617S doi 10 1038 s41467 017 01643 9 PMC 5705636 PMID 29184098 Valdiya K S 2013 The River Saraswati was a Himalayan born river PDF Current Science 104 1 42 Further reading editBhandari 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 amp Agriculture booklet 1965 Soil conservation in the Rajasthan Desert Work of the Desert Afforestation Research station Jodhpur Gupta R K amp 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 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thar Desert nbsp Thar Desert travel guide from Wikivoyage Rajasthan Tourism Thar Desert Terrestrial Ecoregions World Wildlife Fund Dharssi org uk Photos of the Thar Desert Avgustin net Photos of the Thar Desert in Pakistan side MIT gov permanent dead link आपण र जस थ न Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Thar Desert amp oldid 1220030644, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.