abstract:In geology, a chott or shebka (the former spelling is French, pronounced // and sometimes spelled shott; from the Arabic šaṭṭ شط "bank, coast", from the root šṭṭ "exceed, deviate") is a dry (salt) lake in the Saharan area of Africa (mainly in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) that stays dry in the summer, but receives some water in the winter. These lakes have changing shores and are dry for much of the year.