Chott

For the village, see Chott, Algeria. For the American actor and comedian, see Bill Chott. For the Filipino basketball head coach, see Chot Reyes.

In geology, a chott, shott, or shatt (/ˈʃɒt/; Arabic: شط, romanized: šaṭṭ, lit. 'bank, coast') is a salt lake in Africa's Maghreb that stays dry for much of the year but receives some water in the winter. The elevation of a chott surface is controlled by the position of the water table and capillary fringe, with sediment deflation occurring when the water table falls and sediment accumulation occurring when the water table rises.[1] They are formed—within variable shores—by the spring thaw from the Atlas mountain range, along with occasional rainwater or groundwater sources in the Sahara, such as the Bas Saharan Basin.[2][3]

  1. ^ Swezey, C.S., 2003, The role of climate in the creation and destruction of continental stratigraphic records: An example from the northern margin of the Sahara Desert, in Cecil, C.B., and Edgar, N.T., eds., Climate Controls on Stratigraphy: SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Special Publication 77, p. 207-225.
  2. ^ Ramdani, Mohammed; Elkhiat, Najat; Flower, Roger J (2010). "Africa: North of Sahara". In Likens, Gene E. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Inland Waters. Vol. Lake Ecosystem Ecology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0123820020. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  3. ^ Laity, Julie J. (2009). Deserts and Desert Environments. Environmental Systems and Global Change Series. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1444300741. Retrieved 16 December 2012.