A vast seasonal salt marsh in Gujarat, divided into the Great Rann in the north and the Little Rann in the south-east, which floods with seawater and river water during the monsoon and dries into a flat, white salt desert for the rest of the year.
The Rann was once a shallow arm of the Arabian Sea. Over thousands of years, tectonic uplift and sediment from rivers such as the Luni, the old channels of the Indus and smaller streams filled it in, leaving a low, flat basin only slightly above sea level. During the monsoon, high tides and swollen rivers flood the area, turning it into a shallow sheet of brackish water; as the water evaporates after the rains, it leaves behind a crust of salt that gleams white in the dry season.
The region is geologically active. The Allah Bund, a natural ridge raised by the 1819 Kutch earthquake, blocked a channel of the Indus, and the devastating 2001 Bhuj earthquake showed how faults beneath Kutch remain a hazard. Historically, the Rann was a barrier and a corridor at once: Harappan traders at Dholavira used it when it was more navigable, and later it formed a natural frontier that shaped the boundary between India and Pakistan.
Create a free account to read 5 full pages a month, or upgrade for unlimited access. The definition above, the A–Z index and the pop-up definitions in lessons stay free.
