Sebkha el Melah, also known as Sebkhel el Melah or Sebkhet el Melah, is an
endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
salt lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...
in
Béchar Province
Béchar ( ar, ولاية بشار) is the second least-densely populated province (''wilaya'') in Algeria, named after its capital Béchar.
History
The greater part of the province is dry plains (hamadas) suitable for grazing but with insuffic ...
Oued Saoura
Oued Saoura is an intermittent river, or wadi, formed from the confluence of the Oued Guir and Oued Zouzfana at Igli, forming the Saoura valley. While in the past the flow of the river was steady and plentiful, in recent years it has diminished ...
drains into the lake.
The lake is located near
Kerzaz
Kerzaz ( ar, كرزاز) is a town and Communes of Algeria, commune, and capital of Kerzaz District, in Béchar Province, western Algeria. According to the 2008 census its population is 5,028, up from 4,276 in 1998,
and its annual growth rate is ...
, about southeast of
Béni Abbès
Béni Abbès ( ar, بني عباس), also known as the ''Pearl of the Saoura'', and also as the ''White Oasis'', is a town and commune located in western Algeria in Béchar Province, far from the provincial capital Béchar, and from Algiers.
...
.
Geography
Sebkha el Melah is a salt lake that has formed in a basin in
Béchar Province
Béchar ( ar, ولاية بشار) is the second least-densely populated province (''wilaya'') in Algeria, named after its capital Béchar.
History
The greater part of the province is dry plains (hamadas) suitable for grazing but with insuffic ...
, to the south of the Atlas Mountains. The rocky ridge of the
Ougarta Range
Ougarta Range or Mountains of Ougarta ( ar, سلاسل الوقارتة, french: Chaînes d'Ougarta) are a mountain range in the Saoura area of southwestern Algeria. The range is oriented from northwest to southeast, and extends over a length of ...
lies to the west and the sand dunes of the
Grand Erg Occidental
The Grand Erg Occidental ( ar, العرق الغربي الكبير, al-ʿIrq al-Gharbī al-Kabīr), (also known as the Western Sand Sea) is the second largest erg in northern Algeria after the Grand Erg Oriental. It covers an area of approximatel ...
to the east. Sebkha itself has an annual precipitation of about , which is much less than the
Saharan Atlas Saharan may refer to:
* Someone or something from the Sahara desert
* Sahrawi people (also spelled Saharawi), the indigenous people of Western Sahara
* Saharan languages
The Saharan languages are a small family of languages across parts of the ea ...
to the north (). The lake is fed by the seasonal river
Oued Saoura
Oued Saoura is an intermittent river, or wadi, formed from the confluence of the Oued Guir and Oued Zouzfana at Igli, forming the Saoura valley. While in the past the flow of the river was steady and plentiful, in recent years it has diminished ...
but most of the year the volume of water evaporated from the surface exceeds the volume of water flowing in, and a salt crust is formed. The basin has no outflow, and because the source of the water is continental rather than marine, the amount of salt deposited is limited. There are two bodies of water, the upper one pond-like, with a moderate degree of salinity and a
biodiverse
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...
flora and fauna, and the lower one a
sabkha
A sabkha ( ar, سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal p ...
or salt lake, with higher salinity, salt-encrusted margins and very little vegetation.
The bottom of the sabkha is usually dry and covered with a salty crust, mostly formed from
halite
Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, p ...
. Periodically, heavy rains cause the Saoura to flood and water flows into the sabkha.
Total dissolved solids
Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized, or micro-granular ( colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often repor ...
increase as the crust partially dissolves and evaporation occurs. Some water infiltrates the clayey ground forming an impervious layer under which is an aquifer, saturated as far as
sodium chloride
Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g ...
is concerned. Evaporation of the water in the lake occurs, and after a few months, the sabkha dries up, and a new crust is formed.
Ecology
Sebkha el Melah has been designated as a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
tamarisk
The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...
and various species of
seed-bearing plants
A spermatophyte (; ), also known as phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds, hence the alternative name seed plant. Spermatophytes are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. They inc ...
. Some agricultural activities take place, including the cultivation of
date palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...
s. Several species of reptile and amphibian are found in the locality, as well as
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s,
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
and small
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s, and the site is of international importance because of the waterfowl that breed and raise their young here. The lakes are particularly productive because of the high temperatures experienced; more than 1% of the world populations of the
ruddy shelduck
The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the ...
(''Tadorna ferruginea'') and the
ferruginous duck
The ferruginous duck (''Aythya nyroca''), also known as ferruginous pochard, common white-eye or white-eyed pochard, is a medium-sized diving duck from Eurosiberia. The scientific name is derived from Greek '' aithuia'' an unidentified seabird ...