Sabkhat al-Jabbūl or Mamlahat al-Jabbūl or Lake Jabbūl ( ar, سبخة الجبول) is a large, traditionally seasonal,

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salt (chemistry), salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of ...

and concurrent salt flats (

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 ...

) 30 km southeast of Aleppo, Syria, in the Bāb District of

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of t ...

. It is the largest natural lake in Syria and the second largest lake after the artificial

Lake Assad Lake Assad ( ar, بحيرة الأسد, ''Buhayrat al-Assad'') is a reservoir on the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was created in 1974 when construction of the Tabqa Dam was completed. Lake Assad is Syria's largest lake, with a maxim ...

. In 2009 the lake covered about and was relatively stable."SY006: Sabkhat al-Jabbul"
BirdLife IBA Factsheet The salt flats are extensive. The area includes the Sabkhat al-Jabbul Nature Reserve, a protected waterfowl site.Carter, Terry (editor) (2004) "National Parks and Reserves: Syria" ''Syria & Lebanon'' (2nd edition) Lonely Planet Publications, Footscray, Victoria, Australia
page 59
/ref> Today the Sabkhat al-Jabbul exists within a

closed basin 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 ...

, but during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

the basin filled, overflowed and formed a tributary of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

. The lake traditionally flooded in the spring, shrinking back during the summer and autumn. However, starting in 1988, irrigation projects on adjacent lands started discharging significant amounts of partially saline water into the basin, stabilizing the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

and creating a lake of .

Resource use

Primary uses of the area include tourism, waterfowl hunting, livestock grazing on the surrounding steppe and salt extraction. Al-Jubbul is the major source of salt in Syria, other sources include Lake

Jayrud Jairoud ( ar, جيرود; also spelled Jerud or Jayroud) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus in the Qalamoun Mountains. Nearby localities include ar-Ruhaybah, al-Qutay ...

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the ...

, to the northeast of Damascus and Lake Khatuniyah (Khatunia),

Al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate ( ar, محافظة الحسكة, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḥasakah, ku, Parêzgeha Hesekê}, syc, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܚܣܟܗ, Huparkiyo d'Ḥasake, also known as syc, ܓܙܪܬܐ, Gozarto) is one of the fourteen governorates (pro ...

, to the northeast of Al-Hasakah, near the village of Al Hawi and the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

i border.

Notes

External links

"Jabbul Salty Lake سبخة جبول"
photograph from Panoramio

photographs from Syria Looks Salt flats Bird sanctuaries Ramsar sites in Syria Lakes of Syria Aleppo Governorate Saline lakes of Asia {{AleppoSY-geo-stub

Resource use

Notes

Further reading

External links