Thar desert

• Thar Desert

  A desert that stretches across northwest India and into Pakistan, covering around 200,000 km2, mostly in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the most densely populated desert in the world
• Characteristics of the Thar Desert

  • Soils are sandy and not very fertile, with little organic matter to enrich them. They drain very quickly so there is little surface water
  • The landscape is sandy hills with extensive mobile sand dunes and clumps of thorn forest vegetation- a mixture of small trees and shrubs and grasses
  • Rainfall is low – between 100 and 240mm per year, and in the summer, temperatures can reach up to 53°C
• Opportunities for development in the Thar Desert

  • Mineral extraction (gypsum, feldspar, phosphorite, kaolin)
  • Tourism (desert safaris, annual Desert Festival)
  • Energy (lignite coal, oil, wind power, solar power)
  • Farming (subsistence farming, commercial farming enabled by the Indira Ghandi Canal)
• Challenges in the Thar Desert

  • Extreme temperatures (over 50°C in summer)
  • Water supply issues (low rainfall, high evaporation, limited groundwater)
  • Accessibility issues (limited road network, sand covering roads)
• The Indira Gandhi Canal has transformed an extensive area of the Thar Desert, enabling commercial farming of crops like wheat and cotton to flourish in what used to be a scrub desert