The biggest inland salt lake and inland saline lake----Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS

Exploring stories

The biggest inland salt lake and inland saline lake

LI　Mingsheng

In August 1994, on the second day after we reached Golmud, we visited theworld well-known Qarhan Salt Lake.

Along the road north away from the urban areas, we drove on a grayish black road with the smooth and straight surface, which was the rare “Wanzhang Salt Bridge” (a natural salt bridge about 60 kilometers long). This salt bridge looks like a road; however, it was made up by putting rock salts on the salt shell of the lake. Under the salt shell, it was a dry salt lake which was composed of salt bed and inter-crystal brine. This north-south orientated road was 60 kilometers long, paralleling Qingzang railway and crossing the biggest salt lake—“King of the Salt lake” —Qarhan Salt Lake. It is amazing that the road’s maintenance is very convenient. Only need topour bottles of brine on the damaged surface. Once dried up, the road surface is well repaired. Because of its exceptionally gifted characteristic, the “Wanzhang Salt Bridge” has become one of the scenic wonders in Golmud.

Photo Qarhan Salt Lake with abundant salt mine resources

Driving on the salt bridge for some time, our car crossed the railway and reached the centre of the Qarhan Salt Lake. There were full of fish scale-shaped and spotted-shaped salt shell and salt frost, stretching as far as the eye can see. As one of the largest salt lakes in the world, this salt lake includes the west Dongdabuxun Lake and the northeastern Huoluxun Lake, covers 5,868 square kilometers. In Epipleistocene periods, the climate was becoming drier and drier, and the evaporation also was becoming stronger and stronger, dried up Qarhan becomes a huge salt deposit 60 meters thickness both in brine and crystalline form. The inner crystal brine is chloride and associated with abundant carnallite, which is the biggest liquid mineral deposit of kali salt and magnesium salt. Based on estimation, the reserves are 53 billion tons, hereinto more than 200 million tons of potassium chloride which is the second biggest place in the world, as well as 1.9 billion tons of magnesium chloride and more than 50 billion tons sodium chloride. The salt reserves are sufficient for people’s food consumption of the whole country for a period of more than one thousand years. The abundant reserve might well be surprising!

Return from Golmud to Xi'ning by train, we passed by the famous Qinghai Lake, which is the largest inland saline lake in China (over 4,573 square kilometers, total dissolved solids (TDS )of 15.5g/L). The Qinghai Lake seemed likevast expanse of sea. The water and sky put together and made people completely relaxed and happy.

In history, Qinghai Lake was named as West Sea, also called Xian shui. In Mongolian, it was called Kukunuoer; while in Tibetan, it was called Cuowenbu. Both of them Have the meaning of “blue lake”. With the circumference of 360 kilometer and the height of 3,194 meters, this lake was formed by tectonic movement occurred 40million years ago, Located in an intermountainous basin among the Qilian mountains. According to the research, Qinghai Lake was a freshwater lake, which was connected with the Yellow River Hundreds of thousand years ago. However, because of Climate changes and Tectonic mountains formed by crust faulting and uprising, Connection between yellow river and Qinghai lake was blocked. Meanwhile, Salt in lake is gradually accumulated, and then became a closed interior saline lake.　　　

Photo Rape flower in the lakeside of Qinghai Lake

Like a dazzling sapphire mounted on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai Lake’s unique scenery attracted numerous visitors and Tourists and explorers both home and abroad. Meanwhile, its broad fertile grassland is also a pretty good natural pasture. There are groups of cattle and sheep like blowing clouds in the sky on the grassland in spring and summer, showing a prosperous picture with vitality. No wonder the local herdsman acclaimed it was “the lucky midsummer grassland " proudly.

The climate in the lake area is suitable for planting rape and highland Naked barley. Leaning against the train window, we could see many yellow rape flowers dotted on the green grassland, adding some coquettish and bright color to the Qinghai lake a little monotonous background, as if we had back to homeland of fish and rice of south of the Yangtze River.

Brief introduction to the author: Li Mingsen, a geographer, graduated from the Geology and Geography Department of Beijing University in 1963. As a researcher of the Commission for Integrated Survey of Natural Resources (one of the two mergers of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in 1999), he has taken part in several scientific expeditions to Southwest China and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the past 40 years. Since 1973, he has been to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau more than 20 times, and left his footprints in the Himalayas, Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, Qangtang no-human zone and Hengduan mountain region.