Page 17 - SST Class 04

4 Western Desert

Western Desert and I AFGHANISTAN

Having a sandy area on the border gives us a sense of security. Indus
Moreover, Rajasthan is a nice tourist place with a large number Srinagar
of forts and palaces which tell us the story of courage and Jhelum C H I N A
PAKISTAN
sacrifice. Beas TIBET
Satluj
L. Mansarowar
Shimla
A desert is a land where it rains little. It can Chandigarh Lo
be sandy or rocky. The western desert is Dehradun Tsangpo hit
sandy, there is hardly any greenery there. Bikaner DELHI Kosi
WESTERN
This makes living conditions in a desert WESTERN G
an
Ja salmer DESERT Yamuna ga Itanagar
i
DESERT
very harsh. This desert is located almost L. Sambhar Gangtok BHUTAN Brahmaputra
Chambal
Jaipur Lucknow
Dispur
entirely in the state of Rajasthan. The Jodhpur Luni Ganda Dispur
Shillong
Kohima
Barmer i nas Sind Gomat Shillong Kohima
Aravalli Hills divide the state of Rajasthan barmat Ba bal Betwa i Patna Tista Imphal
k
Imphal
into two parts : eastern part and western Gang a
Not to scale Sa Cham Parbati Son dar Agartala
part. The western part is sandy and rocky, Indira : Western Desert Damo BANGLA Tropic of Cancer
Mahi
Gandhinagar Bhopal Ranchi DESH
Kolkat
and is called the Thar Desert or Indian Desert . This desert is about 500 km long and I I A A Kolkataa
D D
N N
Narmada II
100-300 km wide. It stretches from the Aravalli Hills in the east to the borders of MYANMAR
Tapi
Pakistan in the west, and from the Rann of Kutch in the south-west to Haryana in the Mahanadi
Raipur
north. Daman Silvassa Pen ga
Bhubaneshwar
nga
Godava
Water is very scarce in the Thar Desert, so there are hardly any plants and trees. The
Indravati
ri
Mumbai
sandy soil forms into small hills called sand dunes . A sand dune has loose soil which
Bhima
ARABIAN BAY
Manjara
G
flies with the wind and shifts its place often. It causes a lot of sand storms in the area.
SEA var OF
oda
ri hna
At some places, some bushes and thorny bushes grow, Krishna K s i
such as cactus , babool , prickly pear etc. BENGAL
Scarcity of water compels people to walk over long Tungabhadra Penneru L. Kolleru
distances to bring water. At some places, the
underground water comes to the surface and forms a Jog Falls L. Pulicat
water body. This place is called an oasis . The area Pennaiyar
around it is fertile, so people live here and grow some Maladar Coast K mandel Coast
Indira Gandhi Canal
av
er
La
i Coro THAR DESERT
( ksh (India)
Western Desert 17 Vaigai
INDIA)
adweep

SRI
Andamanand Nicobar Islands
LANKA
INDIAN OCEAN