Saline Flats |
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The saline flats, in Arabic called sabkha, are areas of sand or silt lying just above the water table. Sabkhas often contain soft mineral clusters, calcium carbonate, gypsum, anhydrite or sodium chloride. Together they form a crust below the surface, which blocks drainage of surface water, creating floods over sabkha after rains. The water when it evaporates leaves white crust of salt. The crust is often just inches thick and beneath it is muddy ooze, thus, do not try to drive or walk over them. Halophytes and mangrooves, which are salt tolerant plants, can be found growing on these saline flats.
There are three types of sabkhas: the coastal, river-lake, and the inter-dune; all three are found in the UAE. |
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