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March 8, 2014
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Qinghai Hu

Wikipedia

 
Qinghai Lake (Chinese language|Chinese: 青海湖; pinyin: qīnghǎi h??; Mongolian language|Mongolian: Koro Nor; Tibetan language|Tibetan: Tso Ngonpo; "the green-blue sea") is the largest and highest lake in China and is the second largest inland saltwater lake on Earth (after the Great Salt Lake in the United States). Qinghai Lake is also the largest drainless lake in Central Asia and is located 3,205 m (10,515 feet) above sea level in a depression of the Tibetan Plateau. Twenty-three rivers and streams empty into Qinghai Lake.

The lake is 5,694km2 (2,278 square miles; some sources say 4,635 km²), and 360km (220 miles) in circumference. Despite its salinity, it has an abundance of fish, such as the edible huangyu (湟鱼). Its geographic coordinates are in 100 E and 37 N. Its names are Koko-nor (Köke Nagur) in Mongolian language|Mongolian, and Tso-ngombo in Tibetan language|Tibetan.

Qinghai Lake is sandwiched between Hainan, Qinghai|Hainan and Haibei, Qinghai|Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures in the northeastern Qinghai|namesake province. At its northeast end locates the "Bird Islands": Cormorant Island and Egg Island, which are bird sanctuaries by the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone since 1997. It often remains frozen for three months together in winter.



At one time 108 freshwater rivers that emptied into the lake in the 1960s. As of 2005, 85 percent of the river mouths have dried up, including the lake's largest tributary, the Buh River. In between 1959 and 1982, there had been an annual water level drop of 10 centimetres. Unfortunately, measures taken led to an annual rising of 10cm from 1983 to 1989. But as of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported in 1998 of the reappearance of the threat of the lake drying up due to livestock over-grazing, land reclamations and natural causes http://www.tibet.ca/en/wtnarchive/1998/3/27_2.html. It has descended 11.7 percent in the period between 1908 and 2000 http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200111/04/eng20011104_83871.html. As a result of this, or possibly moving sand dune, higher lake floors were exposed, numerous water bodies were separated from the rest of the main lake around since the 20th century. In the 1960s, the 48.9-km? Gǎhai (尕海) Lake appeared in the northern part of the lake. During the 1980s, Shadao (沙岛) Lake split out in the northwest covers an area of 19.6 km?, while the northeastern Haiyan (海晏) Lake is 112.5 km? http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200110/26/eng20011026_83241.html. Another 96.7 daughter lake split off in 2004. In addition, the lake has now split into half a dozen more small lakes at the border. The surface water surface shrank by 312 km? http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/24/content_308805.htm.



  • http://www.travelchinaguide.com/picture/qinghai/xining/birds_island Photos

  • http://www.redtailcanyon.com/items/9057.aspx Satellite photos


Category:Lakes of China
bg:Цинхай (езеро)
ja:青海湖
zh:青海湖

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Qinghai Hu".


Last Modified:   2005-03-13


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