What is the major process behind saline surface formation in Rann of Kachchh?

Correct answer: Evaporation after seasonal waterlogging

Direct answer: Option A, evaporation after seasonal waterlogging. The Rann of Kachchh is a low-lying saline marshy plain. During the rainy or seasonally wet period, water spreads over parts of the surface. Strong heating and dry conditions then cause the water to evaporate. Dissolved salts cannot evaporate with the water, so they remain behind and crystallize or form a white saline crust on the ground. Option A correctly gives this sequence: seasonal waterlogging followed by evaporation. Option B is wrong because permanent snow accumulation is not the process in this hot, low-lying salt marsh. Option C is wrong because basaltic lava deposition would produce volcanic rock, not a seasonal salt crust. Option D is wrong because new khadar is fresh alluvial soil deposited by a river flood, not salt left by evaporation. Memory cue: in the Rann, water leaves as vapour but salt stays behind.