The ''Chott el Hodna'' ( ar, شط الحضنة) is a very shallow
saline
Saline may refer to:
* Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body
* Saline water, non-medicinal salt water
* Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern
Places
* Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...
. It is located within an endorheic basin in the Hodna region, towards the eastern end of the '' Hautes Plaines''. The ''Chott el Hodna'' includes seasonal brackish and saline pools and marshes, but the central zone of the lake is characterized by a complete absence of vegetation.
J. Despois argues that the ''Chott el Hodna'' is not a proper ''
Chott
In geology, a chott, shott, or shatt (; ar, شط, šaṭṭ, lit=bank, coast) is a salt lake in Africa's Maghreb that stays dry for much of the year but receives some water in the winter. The elevation of a chott surface is controlled by the pos ...
'', but a ''
Sebkha
A sabkha ( ar, سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal ...
''.
Ecology
The ''chott'' area provides an important habitat for certain endangered species such as the Cuvier's gazelle, the marbled duck and different kinds of bustards, as well as indigenous fish species.
The ''Chott el Hodna'' was declared a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**