Which of the following statements with reference to Lake Turkana is/are correct?

Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

Largest desert lake, in Kenya, and a World Heritage Site.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT Lake Turkana, in the arid north of Kenya, is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and largest alkaline lake.

2. ✗ WRONG It lies mainly in Kenya (its northern tip touches Ethiopia), in the East African Rift — not South Sudan or the Sahara.

3. ✓ CORRECT The Lake Turkana National Parks are a World Heritage Site; its green-blue colour gives the name “Jade Sea”.

The idea

Lake Turkana lies in the dry north of Kenya, in the eastern arm of the East African Rift Valley, with its tip in Ethiopia. Rivers flow in but none flows out; water leaves only by evaporation. That makes the lake salty and alkaline, and it sits in a desert.

Omo river brings water from the Ethiopian highlands → Lake has no outlet → Water evaporates in desert heat → Salts stay behind → alkaline lake → Algae give it a green colour → “Jade Sea”

The trap

The Ilemi triangle near the lake touches South Sudan, which makes statement 2 feel close. The lake is in Kenya’s Rift Valley.

Also know

Rift Valley lakes are long, narrow and deep: Turkana, Tanganyika (the deepest in Africa), Malawi, Albert, Edward and Kivu. Lake Victoria, the largest in Africa, lies between the two arms of the rift and is shallow. The shores of Turkana have given some of the most important early human fossils. A large dam on the Omo in Ethiopia threatens the lake’s water supply.