The Thar Desert (Hot Deserts Case Study) | AQA GCSE 9-1 Geography

Where is the Thar Desert? What is the climate like? What are the opportunities and challenges for economic development in the Thar Desert?

This is the thirty-first video for the AQA GCSE 9-1 Geography course, and the eleventh video of The Living World topic.

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Video Script:
The Thar Desert is a major hot desert, located in north-west India and Pakistan, mostly in the state of Rajasthan. It covers over 200,000km² and is the most densely populated desert in the world, with 83 people per km². Rainfall is typically between 100 and 240mm per year and summer temperatures can reach over 50 degrees.

Despite these extreme conditions, the desert provides many opportunities for development.

The desert has valuable reserves of minerals and stones:
Gypsum is used for producing plaster and cement.
Feldspar is used to make ceramics.
Phosphorite is used for fertilisers.
Kaolin is used as a whitener in paper.
Sanu limestone is used in India’s steel industry and marble is used in the construction industry.

The Thar Desert is also valuable for energy production:
The climate is ideal for solar power, which is also used to treat water supplies in the region.
The Jaisalmer Wind Park was constructed in 2001 and is India’s largest wind farm.
There are also significant oil and coal reserves.

Irrigation has allowed commercial farming to flourish - the Indira Gandhi Canal has allowed crops such as wheat and cotton to thrive. This canal also provides drinking water for much of the local population.

The desert is home to the Thar Desert National Park which attracts visitors who want to see the unique environment and species - including safari camel tours. This provides employment opportunities for the local population and creates a multiplier effect, leading to significant development. The city of Jaisalmer is also a popular tourist destination.

As well as these opportunities, the Thar Desert also faces several challenges for development.
The extreme heat in summer can make it very difficult for any farming or mining to be done as it is too hot.
The water supply is very limited, yet demand continues to increase with a growing population and the growing industries all requiring water.
The desert is also very inaccessible due a lack of infrastructure and the extreme environment.

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GCSE Geography
05/05/2023
Keducate

[Acnnr]

good luck everyone tomorrow with geography and/ or chemistry!!

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