| Thar Desert Great Indian Desert | |
|---|---|
 Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India | |
 Map of the Thar Desert ecoregion | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Indomalayan |
| Biome | Deserts and xeric shrublands |
| Borders | |
| Geography | |
| Area | 238,254 km2 (91,990 sq mi) |
| Countries | |
| States of India and provinces of Pakistan | |
| Coordinates | 27°N 71°E / 27°N 71°E |
| Climate type | Hot |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | vulnerable[1] |
| Protected | 41,833 km2 (18%)[2] |
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert.
About 85% of the Thar Desert is in India, and about 15% is in Pakistan.[3] The Thar Desert is about 4.56% of the total geographical area of India. More than 60% of the desert lies in the Indian state of Rajasthan; the portion in India also extends into Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana. The portion in Pakistan extends into the provinces of Sindh[4] and Punjab (the portion in the latter province is referred to as the Cholistan Desert). The Indo-Gangetic Plain lies to the north, west and northeast of the Thar desert, the Rann of Kutch lies to its south, and the Aravali Range borders the desert to the east.
The most recent paleontological discovery in 2023 from the Thar Desert in India, dating back to 167 million years ago, pertains to a herbivorous dinosaur group known as dicraeosaurids. This discovery marks the first of its kind to be unearthed in India and is also the oldest specimen of the group ever recorded in the global fossil record.[5]
- ^ "Thar Desert". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; et al. (2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545 [Supplemental material 2 table S1b]. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
- ^ Sinha, R. K.; Bhatia, S. & Vishnoi, R. (1996). "Desertification control and rangeland management in the Thar desert of India". RALA Report No. 200: 115–123.
- ^ Sharma, K. K.; Mehra, S. P. (2009). "The Thar of Rajasthan (India): Ecology and Conservation of a Desert Ecosystem". In Sivaperuman, C.; Baqri, Q. H.; Ramaswamy, G.; Naseema, M. (eds.). Faunal Ecology and Conservation of the Great Indian Desert. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-87409-6_1. ISBN 978-3-540-87408-9.
- ^ "The Oldest Plant-Eating Dinosaur Has Been Found in India". The New York Times. 19 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.