Chinese Lake Kukunor fascinates with its beauty of landscapes and ancient legends about a mysterious creature that lives at the bottom of a reservoir. Having settled next to him, a person can become immensely rich or completely impoverish. There were times when a section of the Great Silk Road stretched along the northern lake shore. A photo of Lake Kukunor in China proves its greatness and beauty. But the water from it is not suitable for drinking: it is s alty and has alkali impurities. Well, let's try to reveal all the secrets and secrets of the glorious lake Kukunor.
Where is it?
Among people, this body of water is called "the stingy master". What is the reason? Many rivers flow into it, but none flow out. This made it possible for Kukunor to turn into the largest endorheic lake in Central Asia. Only Issyk-Kul is larger than it. For its multi-kilometer length, the reservoir was nicknamed "longwater". Although you can’t drink water from the lake, there are still many Tibetans, Chinese and Mongols living along the banks.
If you look at the photo, then pay attention to the unusually clean blue surface. For this, he was nicknamed Kukunor, which in Mongolian means "blue lake". The first explorer of the "long water" was the famous Nikolai Przhevalsky. He accurately noticed how the water turns dark blue in sunlight. Location Kukunor falls on the province of Qinghai, in the west of the DPRK. It is in the central part of the valley of the same name to the lake. On the southeast side are the Nanshan Mountains.
Kukunor Lake Area in China
The area of the reservoir is constantly changing. What is it connected with? Mountains and steppes stretch around Kokunor. Sometimes the lake can shrink by almost half. It depends on the flow of water from the rivers. 23 rivers flow into the lake. They are replenished with rain and snow waters. Its level in the lake depends on this flood. The Bukh-Gol is considered the most water-bearing river; a delta is formed from it in the west. In summer, the water warms up to 20 ° C, and from November to March it is covered with ice.
The depth of Lake Kukunor does not change, it remains at the level of 40 m. Since the water regularly rises and falls, peculiar terraces have formed. Their height can reach 50 m.
Features of the reservoir
"Long Water" features a smooth coastline. It is dominated by feather-grass grasses. They have adapted to a smallamount of moisture and saline soil. Due to the fact that the water in Kokunor often "wanders", swamps have formed in some places.
In winter, cold air masses descend from glaciers in the mountains. Therefore, the water temperature in the lake is low. Sometimes a reservoir can freeze up to 1 m deep. In the summer, everything around him comes to life, the sun begins to burn mercilessly.
The rivers flowing into the lake have eroded the rocks over the centuries, carried away a lot of sand and gravel. This contributed to the formation of many islands that do not even have names.
There are a lot of fish from the carp family in Kunkunor. Silty bottom and aquatic plants contribute to their rapid reproduction. The most widespread here is the scaleless naked carp. It absorbs a lot of silt, so the lake does not turn into a swamp.
Lifestyle near a body of water
Life around Kokunor is not easy, but many people like this area with a secluded lifestyle among the mountain slopes. In the ancient written documents of the Han Empire (210 BC), the Kukunor reservoir was called the Western Sea. Even for the Chinese, the size of the lake seems too large. Large cities around the reservoir did not form, because there is a catastrophic lack of drinking water.
Even nomadic livestock breeders from Mongolia do not stay long on the coast. Sheep quickly eat up all the steppe grass near the coast, which is why they have to migrate to other places. In the first photo you can see small houses. People do not live in them, they are built for tourists.
Many people live in QinghaiChinese. Only they live in areas where minerals are being developed. Most of the inhabitants adhere to Tibetan Buddhism. On one of the islands, the Buddhist temple of Mahadev ("Heart of the Lake") has been preserved. Several hermits live in it. You can also see a large stone Ganchzhur here. For Buddhists, it is sacred. You can watch it in the photo below.
Abundance of birds near the pond
Kukunor is surrounded by solid mountains. This place is very fond of migratory birds. About 20 species of birds come here every year. This is a convenient place where migratory birds stop on their way from Europe to Asia and back. Most of all, the birds chose the place, which they called the Bird Island. Here the birds have time to breed. Everything around the island is fenced so that wolves and foxes do not have the opportunity to destroy nests, disturb egg laying, and interfere with hatching of chicks. Because of this, the number of bird species arriving on the islands is increasing markedly.
Some interesting facts
There are many legends about the reservoir Kukunor. One of them was written down in his book by Przhevalsky. It says that the initial location of the lake was under Tibetan soil. Then the reservoir found its present place. The legend says that the rocky shores were brought here from Nanshan. One mighty bird was able to bring a large island to the lake in order to cover the hole from which streams of water poured. Small islands appeared from an evil spirit.
In one Buddhist tradition it is written that the believerit is customary in the year of the Horse to ride a horse around the lake as a pilgrimage to sacred places. Buddhist Chinese believe that the "point of power" on Earth is concentrated in the lake. They also believe that there are unusual living creatures that have survived from ancient times.
