The Great Rann of Kachchh: The Largest Saline Marshland in India

Abstract

The Great Rann of Kachchh in western India is a unique landscape in the Indian subcontinent. Barely rising above the sea level, it is a vast expanse of salt encrusted terrain which can neither be called a land or sea. Apparently looks topographically monotonous however, a close scrutiny indicates significant geomorphic variability. This is ascribed to a combination of earth surface processes and tectonics. In the absence of longer sedimentary records, the evolutionary history of the Great Rann is limited to the surface exposures of the deposits whose ages go back to about six thousand years. Landforms have a strong finger printing of marine process with subordinate fluvial contribution in landform evolution. The terrain witnessed two major earthquakes, one between 2.2 and 1.4 ka and another in 1819 CE. These earthquakes appear to have significantly influenced the terrain morphology and landform evolution. Although speculative, it seems that frequent earthquakes could have been one of the major reasons for the desertion of human occupation.