Schotts highlands
The Schotts highlands are a highland between several chains of the Atlas Mountains in the north of Algeria with foothills in the northeast of Morocco .
Surname
The Schotts highlands got their name because of their mostly drainless and partly marshy salt lakes , which dry up every year in the hot season. They are called Schotts and are located in numerous valleys in the landscape.
Geographical location
The highlands of the bulkhead extends predominantly in Algeria in ENE-WSW-direction between the Atlas chains Tellatlas (max. 2308 m ) in the north-northwest and Sahara Atlas (max. 2326 m ) in the south-southeast. Its foothills, located in Morocco, merge in the southwest into the High Atlas (max. 4167 m ) and in the west into the Middle Atlas (max. 3356 m ); the Moulouya flows along the border of the latter mountain range . While the lowest highland point is 391 m high in the east at Schott Mutnah , its highest point is difficult to make out because the local landscape merges seamlessly into the world of the Atlas chains. However, 750 to 1070 m are mentioned as altitudes. The largest salt lake in the landscape is the drainless Chott Ech Chergui , which is located approximately in its center at an altitude of 1027 m and, due to evaporation, with a fluctuating water level is a maximum of around 2000 km². The Cheliff, which rises in the Sahara Atlas, flows through the northeast of the highlands . Localities of the landscape or on its edges include: Al Khaydar, Bu Kutub, Chellala, Kaff al-Ahmar, Tahin and Tendrara.
Climate and flora
In the highlands of the Schotts, there is a winter-humid subtropical climate with pronounced seasonal temperature fluctuations (January mean hardly above 0 ° C, August mean 30 ° C). The precipitation, mostly in the form of brief downpours, is only around 350 mm on an annual average.
Steppes dominate with half- grass and wormwood plants; the grasslands favor nomadic life with livestock farming .
Coordinates: 34 ° 1 ′ 7 ″ N , 0 ° 5 ′ 7 ″ E