Tuotuo River

Tuotuo River originates from the glacier of Jianggen diru snow mountain in the South and east of gladan, the main peak of Tanggula mountains. It is the main source of Yangtze River.

Tuotuo River is surrounded by the first bridge of the Yangtze River, monument to the source of the Yangtze River, Kekexili protection station, etc.

Tuotuo River

This entry is compiled and applied by "popular science China" Science Encyclopedia

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Tuotuo River is located in Tanggula Mountain town in the south of Golmud City, Qinghai Province, to the south of Kekexili mountains. When it originated from the jiangendiru glacier in the east of gradan, it was a stream formed by melting water from some glaciers and ice cubes. At this time, the water surface was only 3 meters wide and only 20 centimeters deep. Then it flowed northward for more than 9000 meters. At the foot of Badong mountain, it collected the melting water from the glacier of gagachadirugang snow mountain. After passing a valley about 15 kilometers long, it continued northward and divided into two glaciers 4 meters wide There are many cobweb like currents in the valley on both sides of the river, which is the upper source of the Tuotuo River. At the exit of the valley, the valley suddenly cuts down, forming a steep canyon about 5 kilometers long, more than 20 meters high. After the confluence of many rivers, the Tuotuo River, the West source of the Yangtze River, is formed. Tuotuo River is administratively under the jurisdiction of Tanggulashan Town, Golmud City (attached District).

topographic features

Tuotuo River, also known as Tuotuo River and Wulanmulun River, means "Red River" in Mongolian. It is located in the southwest of Qinghai Province in China and is the Western source of the Yangtze River

Is one of the southern bottoms of the Hoh Xil region. The glacier originates from jiangendiru snow mountain in the South and east of the main peak of the Tanggula mountains, with an altitude of nearly 5500 meters at the end of the glacier.

There are a huge group of snow mountains. There are 20 snow peaks at an altitude of more than 6 kilometers. The permanent snow line is as high as 5800 meters. There are 40 modern glaciers and many icebergs on the peaks. The East Branch originates from the glacier under jiangendiru snow mountain on the southwest side of the East snow mountain group of gladan, and the West Branch originates from the west side of gaqiadirugang snow mountain. The two rivers are supplied by glacier melt water and become the initial water source of the river. The two branches of the East and the West are called naxinqu when they meet, and the Tuotuo River is only called Tuotuo River when they meet with the qiemeiqu on the right bank 24 kilometers down. After leaving Tanggula Mountain area, Tuotuo River continues to flow northward, cuts off the lower hills of zuerkenwula mountain and flows to the vicinity of nangji Balong. When it flows to the Tuotuo River along the Qinghai Tibet highway, it is a big river with a depth of 3 meters and a width of 20-60 meters. Tuotuo River Yangtze River source bridge is flying over the beach along the Tuotuo River.

Source and direction

As early as in the book of history, people were discussing the source of the Yangtze River. Xu Xiake, a famous Traveler in the Ming Dynasty, thought that the Jinsha River was the source of the Yangtze River, and wrote a book named Jiang Yuan Kao. By the Qing Dynasty, people had realized the Tongtian River, but still could not determine the source of the Yangtze River. In 1956 and 1977, China inspected the source area of the Yangtze river twice. In 2010, it was finally determined that Dangqu is the main source of the Yangtze River and Tuotuo River is the Western source of the Yangtze River.

When the Tuotuo River originated from jiangendiru glacier in Geladandong, it was a small stream formed by melting water from some glaciers and ice cubes. At this time, the water surface was only 3 meters wide and only 20 centimeters deep. Then it flowed northward for 9 kilometers. At the foot of Badong mountain, it collected the melting water from gaqiadirugang snow mountain, passed a valley about 15 kilometers long, and continued northward, divided into two glaciers 4 meters wide and 4 meters deep There are many cobweb like currents in the valley on both sides of the river, which is the upper source of the Tuotuo River. At the exit of the valley, the valley suddenly cuts down, forming a steep canyon about 5 kilometers long, more than 20 meters high.

After flowing out of Badong mountain, the river first passes through a vast floodplain, then passes through a gorge, and flows to Hulu lake, then turns to the East. After more than 130 kilometers of flow, the river became open. When it reached the Tuotuo River along the Qinghai Tibet highway, it was a big river with a depth of 3 meters and a width of 20-60 meters. The famous Wanli Yangtze River first bridge is built on the beach along the Tuotuo River. It is 324 meters long and 11 meters wide reinforced concrete bridge.

From here, the Tuotuo River continues eastward to nangji Balong, converges with Dangqu to receive Buqu and dorqu, and then receives the Tuotuo River. After 375 kilometers, it forms a large river with a width of more than 30 meters. From here on, it is called Tongtian River.

There are about 2165 lakes in the Tuotuo River Basin, with a total area of more than 300 square kilometers. There are many lakes along the river, including Quemocuo lake, mazhangcuoqin lake and Hulu lake. Quemocuo lake is the largest, covering an area of 88.2 square kilometers, followed by mazhangcuoqin lake, with an area of 60.3 square kilometers. Most of these lakes are connected to the Tuotuo River, and some of them are close to the Tuotuo River and separated by beaches with small height difference. According to the analysis, these lakes were originally connected to the rivers and lakes. Due to the small amount of precipitation and large evaporation, the lake surface gradually shrank. For a long time, part of the lake bottom exposed and separated from the Tuotuo River to become an inner flow lake.

The longest tributary of Tuotuo River is zhamuqu, about 144 km long, followed by xierigongniqu, about 118 km long. The largest drainage area is zhamuqu (3900 square kilometers), followed by xierigongniqu (1668 square kilometers).

natural environment

climate

The Tuotuo River Basin is located in the hinterland of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, with high terrain, thin air, high mountains in the north and south, closed terrain and weak influence by the marine wind system. The climate is dry and cold, windy and rainy, the weather is changeable, the temperature is low all the year round, there is no obvious four seasons, only the difference between dry and wet seasons, October to April is the dry season, may to September is the wet season. The annual average temperature along the Tuotuo River is - 4.2 ℃, the hottest average temperature in July is 7.5 ℃, the coldest average temperature in January is - 24.8 ℃, and the extreme minimum is - 33.8 ℃. The annual freezing period is up to seven months. If the vertical decreasing rate of air temperature is calculated as 0.6 ℃ for every 100 meters of altitude increase, and the height of the source of Tuotuo River is 1287 meters higher than that of the source of Tuotuo River at 4533 meters above sea level, then the annual average air temperature of the source of tuotuotuo River should be about - 12 ℃, and the monthly average air temperature is negative.

The Tuotuo River Basin is located in the westerly belt, and the westerly wind prevails in the winter half year. The wind season is from November to march of the next year. The annual average wind speed along the Tuotuo River is 3.9 m / s, and the maximum wind speed is about 40 m / s, equivalent to 12 levels. The annual average number of gales above 6 is 74.5 days, accounting for 72% of the annual number of gale days. In 1972, there were 134 days of gale above 6. There are many sandstorms from January to May every year. In March 1966, there were 12 days of sandstorms along the Tuotuo River. Due to the high altitude and low air pressure, the oxygen content in the air is only 43% of the sea level. People in this area are prone to mountain maladjustment, that is, mountain hypoxia reaction, such as dizziness, headache, limb weakness, rapid heartbeat, nausea and vomiting.

The climate in the basin is arid and the precipitation is small. According to the measured data statistics, the annual average precipitation along the Tuotuo River is 283.1 mm, the monthly maximum precipitation is 174 mm (July 1972), and the daily maximum precipitation is 34.4 mm (July 17, 1963). The precipitation is concentrated in July, August, and September, and the maximum precipitation is in July, which accounts for 85% - 96.7% of the annual precipitation from May to September. Among the 98.7 days of annual average precipitation, 57.9 days are snowfall. The annual average thunderstorm weather is 58.2 days. The annual average hail days are 18.4 days, with the maximum of 30 days, mainly from June to September. The annual evaporation is 1170.8-1660.8 mm.

hydrology

The freezing period of Tuotuo River is long, and the water level rises when the temperature rises in April. With the coming of plateau wet season, the precipitation increases, and the rising trend of water level increases after June. The annual highest water level appears in August, and the water level gradually drops in October, with an annual variation range of 0.90-1.60 meters. The change of water regime and the process of freezing and thawing are controlled by climatic conditions.

The Tuotuo River is mostly wide and shallow, so it has many divergent flow, overtopping flow, branching and crossing ditches, with shallow water and low velocity. The catchment area controlled by the hydrological station along the Tuotuo River is 15924 square kilometers, the average annual precipitation is 283.1 mm, the average annual runoff depth is 51.9 mm, the measured maximum flow is 750 m3 / s, the minimum flow is 0, the average annual flow is 26.2 m3 / s, and the average annual runoff is 826 million cubic meters. The catchment area above the balongtuotuo estuary in nangji is 17616 square kilometers. According to the calculation of Qinghai Provincial Hydrological Station, the annual average discharge of Tuotuo estuary is 29.1 m3 / s, and the annual average runoff is 918 million m3. The annual runoff of Tuotuo River accounts for about 7.7% of the annual runoff of Tongtian River Yushu zhimenda hydrological station.

In 1978, the Yangtze River source investigation team measured the water level, velocity and discharge in some areas of the Tuotuo River. At 17:00 on July 10, the discharge of Tuotuo estuary was 35.4 m3 / s, the cross-sectional area was 42.1 m2, and the water surface was 61 m wide. On July 23, the average velocity of glacier flow on the north side of Jianggen diru peak was 1.14 M / s, the average water depth was 0.4 m, the water surface width was 5 m, and the flow rate was 2.28 m3 / s. On July 24, the average flow velocity of the glacier on the south side was 0.88 M / s, the average water depth was 0.40 m, the water surface width was 14 m, and the flow rate was 4.97 m3 / s. On July 18, the measured discharge at the junction of nachinqu and chesumeiqu was 12.1 m3 / s,

Chinese PinYin : Tuo Tuo He