Chaka Salt Lake

Causes

Due to plate movement, the junction area between the Eurasian plate and the Indian Ocean plate, which was originally covered by sea water, gradually rose into the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. During the formation of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, part of the seawater accumulated in low-lying areas and formed many salt lakes and ponds, including Chaka Salt Lake.

Circumstances change

About 100000 to 130000 years ago, Chaka Salt Lake was an outflow lake, flowing eastward into the Gonghe Basin and the Yellow River. Later, tectonic uplift occurred, making Chaka Salt Lake an inland lake. During the late glacial period, Chaka Salt Lake was a freshwater lake. Since the Holocene, the Chaka Salt Lake began to shrink, and salt deposits appeared. Even in the climate suitable period of the middle Holocene, the Chaka Salt Lake still showed a further shrinking state. In the late Holocene, the shrinkage and salinization of salt lakes were further intensified. The effect of temperature plays a vital role in the formation and evolution of Chaka Salt Lake. Compared with the late glacial period, the increase of Holocene temperature caused the evaporation of the salt lake to increase much more than the precipitation.

geographical position

Chaka Salt Lake is located in Wulan County, Qinghai Province, between 99 ° 02 ′ - 99 ° 02 ′ E and 36 ° 18 ′ - 36 ° 45 ′ N, in the easternmost segment of the Qaidam Basin, in the west of Chaka Basin, in the small intermountain artesian basin of the Cenozoic depression on the southern edge of Qilian Mountains, in the south of which lies Ela Mountain, and in the north of which lies the southern Qinghai Mountain separated from Qinghai Lake.

topographic features

Chaka Salt Lake is sandwiched between Wanyan Tongbu Mountain, a branch of Qilian Mountain, and Wanggaxiu Mountain, a branch of Kunlun Mountain. The two mountains are covered with snow all the year round, and the snow mountains are reflected on the lake, forming a unique natural scenery of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau where water and sky intersect, and the salt lake and snow peak complement each other.

climate

Chaka Salt Lake has a dry and cool climate, with an annual average temperature of 4 ℃, - 12.2 ℃ in January and 19.6 ℃ in July; The annual average precipitation is 210.4 mm, the annual evaporation is 2000 mm, the annual average relative humidity is 45%~50%, the wind is often blowing northwest, the average wind speed is 3 m/s, and the climate is plateau continental.

Lake Area Overview

The elevation of Chaka Salt Lake is lower than that of Qinghai Lake, the annual average temperature is slightly higher than that of Qinghai Lake, the annual average precipitation is less than that of Qinghai Lake, and the annual average evaporation is greater than that of Qinghai Lake.

Chaka Salt Lake has a total area of 154 square kilometers. The lake is 3059 meters above sea level, 15.8 kilometers long and 9.2 kilometers wide, and is oval. The lake water area and depth are obviously affected by seasons. The lake water area can reach 104 square kilometers in rainy season, which is more than ten times that of the West Lake in Hangzhou. The lake water area is significantly reduced in dry season. The salt lake has no surface brine during the dry season from October to April of the next year, and the wet season is from May to September.

river system

The Chaka River, Mo River, Xiaochahanwusu River and other rivers that radiate along the edge of the salt lake enter the lake. Springs are developed in the east of the lake area. The lake basin is recharged in the form of groundwater, and there is no outlet for the lake. There is Mayana River flowing into the southeast bank of the lake, and other rivers flowing into the salt lake are very small and mostly seasonal rivers.

flow

Chaka Salt Lake is a closed inland lake. The main water inflow into the lake is river water, and the total annual water inflow into the lake is 0.557 × 108 m3/year, spring water inflow is 0.0259 × 108 m3/year, the main water yield is the evaporation on the lake surface, and the annual evaporation is 1.146 × 108m3/year, followed by 0.0185 water consumption for artificial salt mining × 108 m3/year.

Water Quality

Chaka Salt Lake is a brine lake with solid and liquid coexisting. The salinity of salt lake brine is 322.4 g/l, the relative density is 1.2178, the pH value is 7.8, and the hydrochemical type is sulfate magnesium sulfate subtype.

Salt bed

The bottom of Chaka Salt Lake is a rock salt deposit. Since the formation of the salt lake, the chemical deposition has been relatively continuous and stable. The thickness of the chemical deposition salt layer is relatively large, generally 4-8m, and up to 10m. The chemical deposition is mainly composed of rock salt, followed by gypsum, mirabilite, glauberite, anhydrous mirabilite, purgative salt, sodium magnesium alum and water rock salt.

Physical resources

Chaka Salt Lake lacks aquatic organisms, and there are few trees and plants around it, which are mainly herbaceous plants. Poa pratensis and Kobresia are one of the dominant species.

Chaka Salt Lake is famous for its abundant "large green salt". Its salt grains are large and pure, with mellow taste. It is an ideal edible salt but cannot be eaten directly. The annual rainfall in the lake area is small, and the water injected into it every year is especially small. In addition, the evaporation is strong, so its salt content is very high. The salt crystal is called "green salt" because it contains minerals, which make the salt crystal green and black.

The content of sodium chloride in brine in wet season is higher than that in dry season, which is the best time to mine rock salt. The content of potassium salt and magnesium salt in brine in dry season is higher than that in wet season, which is the best period for mining potassium salt and magnesium salt. In dry season, the highest potassium chloride content in the lake water is 2.01%, and the average is 1.15%, reaching the grade of independent mining. The brine that has been mined is recrystallized into salt layer several years later.

As of April 2011, Chaka Salt Lake has 448 million tons of salt and 94% of sodium chloride.

Exploitation and utilization

Chaka Salt Lake is the smallest of the four major salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin and the earliest one developed. Chaka salt is very easy to exploit. People only need to uncover a dozen centimeters of salt cap to get natural crystal salt from below.

According to the Xining Mansion New Annals, "In the west of the county, there are more than 500 li, southwest of Qinghai... There are more than 200 li around. Salt is naturally formed, and it is inexhaustible. Mongolia uses iron spoons to fish for it, and sells jade for trade. The county and the people depend on it."

As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 25 A.D.), the local Qiang people had known to eat salt. It is recorded in the Hanshu Geography that "Jincheng County is located in the northwest of Qiang and beyond the Great Wall, with West Queen Mother's Room, Xianhai Lake and Yanchi Lake". Xianhai Lake is now Qinghai Lake, and the salt pond is Chaka Salt Lake.

Since the 28th year of Qianlong's reign (1763), the government has organized large-scale exploitation of salt lakes, and established a salt law. In the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), the Dangaerting Salt Bureau was established, which marked that Chaka Salt was brought into the orderly management track.

Before liberation, the Northwest Salt Administration of the Ministry of Finance of the National Government set up a salt farm in Chaka as a salt base. At that time, the production mode of Chaka Salt Lake was very backward, mainly including manual salt digging and yak transportation. By 1949, the annual output was only 1300 tons.

After liberation, salt mining realized mechanization of ship mining, shipping, washing and processing. The mechanization of salt mining has been realized, and Chaka Salt Factory has been built to realize the mechanization of ship mining, shipping, washing and processing. The products include raw salt, regenerated salt, washing salt, powdered washing salt, iodized salt, nutritional zinc salt, etc., which are popular nationwide.

In 2003, the salt lake began to be mined by boat.

Characteristic landscape

Scenic Area Information

Chaka Salt Lake is one of the "four major scenic spots in Qinghai". The Chaka Salt Lake Scenic Spot, with its core, is a scenic spot that combines ecological tourism with industrial tourism. In October 2016, Chaka Salt Lake Scenic Area was rated as a National 4A Scenic Area by the former National Tourism Administration and awarded the honorary title of "Scenic Area with the Best Tourism Order" and "Advanced Collective in the National Tourism System".

transport line

Bus: There are shuttle buses to Wulan County at Xining Long distance Bus Station, passing Chaka Town. There are five buses a day, and the fare is about 80 yuan

Charter: charter from Xining Bus Station, about 400 yuan; It's about 200 yuan to charter from Heima River

Others: Follow the Yanche from the Heima River to the lake area, about 50 yuan

In July 2018, the video of Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai, the "Mirror of the Sky", a popular online attraction, was accused of being turned into a "garbage dump", causing heated discussion among netizens. The scenic spot is in the peak season of tourism. At the peak, 12 tons of garbage can be removed a day, and most of them are plastic shoe covers worn by tourists entering the Salt Lake. In order to relieve the environmental pressure of Chaka Salt Lake, the scenic spot has customized biodegradable rental shoe covers, and arranged nearly 200 cleaning personnel to patrol in the scenic spot. The scenic spot calls on tourists to protect the beautiful scenery while enjoying it.