Sambhar Salt Lake
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| Sambhar Salt Lake | |
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| Location | Rajasthan, India |
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| Lake type | salt lake |
| Catchment area | 5700 km² |
| Basin countries | India |
| Max. length | 35.5 km |
| Max. width | 3 to 11 km |
| Surface area | 190 to 230 km² |
| Average depth | 0.6 m to 3 m |
| Max. depth | 3 m |
| Surface elevation | 360 m |
| Settlements | Sambhar, Jabdinagar, Govindi, Gudha, Jhak, Nawa, Jhopak, Ulana. |
Sambhar Salt Lake, India's largest salt lake, sits 96 km south west of the city of Jaipur (Northwest India) and 64 km north east of Ajmer along the National highway 8 in Rajasthan.
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[edit] Mythology
Epic Mahabharata mentions this place as part of kingdom of the demon king Brishparva and as the place of his priest Sukracharya lived, and as the placce where the marriage between his daughter Devayani and King Yayati took place. A temple dedicated to Devayani is still seen near the lake.
According to a Hindu tradition, Shakambhari Devi, tutelary goddess of Chauhan Rajputs converted forest to plain of precious metals. When people worried about fends for wealth and felt it as curse rather than blessing and requested her to retract her favor, she converted the Silver to Salt. This place still has a temple dedicated too Shakambhari Devi.
[edit] Geography
The lake is actually an extensive saline wetland, with water depths fluctuating from just a few centimeters as 60 cm (1 inch = 2.54 centimeters) during the dry season to about 3 meters (10 ft) after the monsoon season. It occupies 190 to 230 square kilometers area based on season. It is elliptically shaped lake with 35.5 km long and the breadth varying between 3 km to 11 km. It is located in Nagaur and Jaipur districts and it also borders the Ajmer district. The circumference of lake is 96 km and surrounds in all side of Aravali hiils.
The Sambhar lake basin is divided by a 5.1 km long dam made of sand stone. After salt water reaches certain concentration, it will be released from west side to eastern side by lifting dam gates. To the east of the dam are salt evaporation ponds where salt has been farmed for a thousand years. This eastern area is 80 km². and comprises salt reservoirs and canals and salt pans separated by narrow widges. To the east of the dam is a railroad, built by the British (before India’s independence) to provide access from Sambhar Lake City to the salt works.
Nearest airport is Sanganer and nearest railway station is Sambhar. The water is fed to lake from streams from rivers Mendha, Runpangarh, Khandel and Karian. Mendha and Rupangarh are main streams. Mendha flows from south to north and Rupangarh flows from north to south.
Temperature reaches 40 Celsius in summer and stays about 11 Celsius in winter.
[edit] Economical importance
It is India's largest saline lake and made the Rajasthan, the third largest salt producing state in India. It produces 196,000 tonnes of clean Salt every year, which equals 8.7% of India's Salt production. Its salt production is done by evaporation process of brine and is majorly managed by Shambar Salts Ltd.(SSL), a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the state government. SSL owns 3% of the eastern lake.
There are 38 clusters of villages surrounding the lake and the major settlements are Sambhar, Gudha, Jabdinagar, Nawa, Jhak, Korsina, Jhapok, Kanseda, Kuni, Tyoda, Govindi, Nandha, Sinodiya, Arwik ki dhani, Khanadja, Khakharki, Kerwa ki dhani, Rajas, Jalwali ki dhani, Devaji ki dhani, Aau and Ulana.
[edit] Ecological importance
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.
[edit] References
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