Lake Heihai
黑海 (Chinese)
Satellite image
False-color satellite photograph of Lake Heihai
Map of Qinghai
Map of Qinghai
Lake Heihai
Location of Lake Heihai in Qinghai
LocationGolmud County
Haixi Prefecture
Qinghai Province
China
Coordinates36°00′00″N 93°15′00″E / 36.00000°N 93.25000°E / 36.00000; 93.25000
Etymology"Black Sea"
Primary outflowsKunlun River
Catchment area1,600 km2 (620 sq mi)
Max. length12 km (7.5 mi)
Max. width5 km (3 mi)
Surface area38.3 km2 (14.8 sq mi)
Max. depth22.5 m (74 ft)
SalinityMesohaline
Surface elevation4,420–4,446 m (14,501–14,587 ft)
Lake Heihai
Chinese黑海
Literal meaningBlack Sea
Dark Sea
Alternative names
Traditional Chinese西王母瑤池
Simplified Chinese西王母瑶池
Literal meaningThe Jade Pond of the Queen Mother of the West

Lake Heihai is a small mesosaline lake in Golmud County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in western China.

Names

"Lake Heihai" is an English clarification of the pinyin romanization of the Chinese name Hēi Hǎi, meaning "Black Sea". (As with Qinghai Lake, the Chinese word for "sea" is sometimes used to translate the Mongolian naɣur (ᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ), which was once used ambiguously for all large bodies of water.) The lake is also known as Xīwángmǔ Yáochí ("Jade Pond of the Queen Mother of the West") from an old legendary location in the Kunlun Mountains and sometimes confused with Lake Hala in the Qilian Mountains.[1]

Geography

Lake Heihai is located about 200 km (120 mi) south of the city of Golmud[2] in Golmud County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, at an elevation of 4,420 m (14,500 ft)[3][4] or 4,446 m (14,587 ft)[2] above sea level[2] in western China. It lies in a valley roughly 50 km (31 mi) long and 15 km (9 mi) wide between the Kunlun Mountains (highest elevation about 5,700 m or 18,700 ft) to the south and the Burhan Buda (highest elevation about 5,400 m or 17,700 ft) to the north.[5] Earthquakes are common, as the lake lies near the major 1,600 km (990 mi) long Kunlun Fault.[5]

Covering 38.3 km2 (14.8 sq mi),[2] it stretches about 12 km (7.5 mi) from east to west and 5 km (3 mi) north to south. The deepest point is around 22.5 m (74 ft) below its surface.[6][7] Two main streams feed into the lake,[5][7] with a catchment of around 1,600 km2 (620 sq mi).[3] Meltwater flows from two small glaciated areas in the Kunluns. The west is about 38 km2 (15 sq mi), the east about 24 km2 (9.3 sq mi); both appear to have retreated roughly 100 m (330 ft) since 1970.[8] The outflow to the east is the source of the Kunlun River, the upper stretch of the Golmud River.[1][4]

With mean annual precipitation of 250 mm (10 in) and high evaporation rates,[5] the lake's water is mesohaline.[7] The mean annual temperature is −8 °C (18 °F),[5] so much of the surrounding countryside is permafrost[9] alpine grassland, supporting dwarf cinquefoil and winterfat shrubs and sparse sedges and grasses.[2] Polygonum sibiricum occupies moist saline sites close to the lake;[2] drier land further from shore is characterized by Kobresia robusta on the sandier north side and Poa pachyantha on the south side.[9]

History

During the Pleistocene, sediment from glaciers in the Kunlun temporarily blocked outflow of the valley's main meltwater stream,[7] forming the present lake.[10] Particularly strong winds weathered and shaped the surrounding rocks from 100–80,000 years ago.[11] At its maximum extent, an Ice Age glacier filled most of the present valley,[8] which increased its catchment about 200 km2 (77 sq mi). At times, probably around 50 kya, 13 kya, and 11.6 kya,[12] Lake Heihai overflowed the present 10 m (33 ft) elevation difference to join with the smaller lake to its west, increasing its catchment by another 230 km2 (89 sq mi) and leaving lacustrine sediments across 28 km2 (11 sq mi) of now-dry land.[10] During the mid-Holocene, from around 8–4,000 years ago,[11] the climate was wetter and warmer, possibly from increased influence from the Indian[7] or East Asian monsoon. By the late Holocene, the monsoon was no longer able to reach the lake and its environment became drier and windier again.[4]

Culture

As the largest present lake in the Kunlun Mountains, it has become identified with the "Jade Pond" (also translated as the "Nacre" or "Turquoise Pond" and "Lake of Gems") important in various myths involving the Queen Mother of the West. Lake Heihai has a stone temple to the Queen Mother and a large slab reading "Xiwangmu Yaochi" (西王母瑤池).

See also

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Zhang & al. (2013).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Müller & al. (2014).
  3. 1 2 Stauch (2016), p. 92.
  4. 1 2 3 Stauch & al. (2017).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Stauch (2016), p. 93.
  6. ↑ Lockot & al. (2015).
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Ramisch & al. (2016).
  8. 1 2 Stauch (2016), p. 97.
  9. 1 2 Stauch (2016), p. 94.
  10. 1 2 Stauch (2016), p. 98.
  11. 1 2 Stauch (2016), p. 113.
  12. ↑ Stauch (2016), p. 111.

Bibliography

  • Lockot, Gregori; et al. (2015), "A Process- and Provenance-Based Attempt to Unravel Inconsistent Radiocarbon Chronologies in Lake Sediments: An Example from Lake Heihai, North Tibetan Plateau (China)", Radiocarbon, vol. 57, Phoenix: University of Arizona, pp. 1003–1019, doi:10.2458/azu_rc.57.18221, S2CID 130621589.
  • Müller, Carolina; et al. (December 2014), "Phytosociological and Palynological Studies of Alpine Steppe Communities on the Northern Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province, China", Feddes Repertorium Journal of Botanical Taxonomy and Geobotany, vol. 124, Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag, pp. 122–138, doi:10.1002/fedr.201400006.
  • Ramisch, Arne; et al. (2016), "Art. 25791: A Persistent Northern Boundary of Indian Summer Monsoon Precipitation over Central Asia during the Holocene", Scientific Reports, vol. No. 6, p. 25791, doi:10.1038/srep25791, PMC 4865755, PMID 27173918.
  • Stauch, Georg (21 June 2016), Aeolian Sediments on the Northern Tibetan Plateau, Aachen: Rheinisch–Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule.
  • Stauch, Georg; et al. (June 2017), "Landscape and Climate on the Northern Tibetan Plateau during the Late Quaternary", Geomorphology, vol. 286, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 78–92, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.03.008.
  • Zhang Wanyi; et al. (November 2013), "Ostracod Distribution and Habitat Relationships in the Kunlun Mountains, Northern Tibetan Plateau", Quaternary International, vol. 313, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 38–46, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.020.
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