Gyaring Lake

Both Zhaling lake and Eling Lake are the largest pair of freshwater lakes in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, also known as "Chaling Lake", which means White Lake in Tibetan. It is located in the western structural depression of Maduo County, Qinghai Plateau, on the west side of Eling Lake. The lake is 4294 meters above sea level, 35 kilometers long from east to west and 21.6 kilometers wide from north to south. It covers an area of 526 square kilometers, with an average water depth of 8.9 meters. The deepest part is on the northeast side of the lake center, with a storage capacity of 4.6 billion cubic meters. The Yellow River is the confluence of nakariqu and yeguzongliequ. It flows in from the southwest corner and flows out from the southeast corner. To the south of the lake center is the main stream line of the Yellow River. The Yellow River carries a large amount of sediment into the lake. When the wind and waves rise, the surface of the lake is gray, so it is called a long white lake. The lake is rich in phytoplankton and fish resources. In the west of the lake, there are three small islands not far from the entrance of the Yellow River. In summer, large groups of migratory birds live together, also known as bird island. The lakeside is mostly subalpine meadow, which is an important pasture.

Gyaring Lake

Zhaling lake is a large freshwater lake in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is also called "Chaling sea". Tibetan means white lake. It is located in the western structural depression of Maduo County, Qinghai Plateau, on the west side of Eling Lake. Both Zhaling lake and Eling Lake are the largest pair of freshwater lakes in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, also known as "Chaling Lake", which means White Lake in Tibetan.

It is located in the western structural depression of Maduo County, Qinghai Plateau, on the west side of Eling Lake. The lake is 4294 meters above sea level, 35 kilometers long from east to west and 21.6 kilometers wide from north to south. It covers an area of 526 square kilometers, with an average water depth of 8.9 meters. The deepest part is on the northeast side of the lake center, with a storage capacity of 4.6 billion cubic meters.

Introduction

The Yellow River is the confluence of nakariqu and yeguzongliequ. It flows in from the southwest corner and flows out from the southeast corner. To the south of the lake center is the main stream line of the Yellow River. The Yellow River carries a large amount of sediment into the lake. When the wind and waves rise, the surface of the lake is gray, so it is called a long white lake. The lake is rich in phytoplankton and fish resources. In the west of the lake, there are three small islands not far from the entrance of the Yellow River. In summer, large groups of migratory birds live together, also known as bird island. The lakeside is mostly subalpine meadow, which is an important pasture.

Zhaling lake is an asymmetric rhombus, long from east to west and narrow from north to south. It is separated from Zhaling Lake by a natural dike, which looks like a butterfly. It is 35 kilometers long from east to west, 21.6 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of 526 square kilometers, with an average water depth of 8.9 meters and a water storage capacity of 4.67 billion cubic meters. The northeast part of the lake is deep, with a maximum depth of 13.1 meters; the west part is shallow, with a depth of only 1-2 meters, and the shallowest part is only tens of centimeters. The bottom material is gravel.

Ecological characteristics

From 1960 to 1962, the relevant departments of Qinghai province built a seasonal fishing ground here, fishing more than 2000 tons. Later, because of the long way to sell the fishing goods, inconvenient transportation, difficult preservation and high cost. Due to the long-term survival of fish, not only the density of fish is high, but also they are not afraid of people. When people get close to the fish, they still can't swim. If they throw stones, the fish will not disperse, but will gather at the place where the stones fall into the water, so it's very easy to net and fish. In the future, with the development of local production and the improvement of traffic conditions, the original fish reservoirs of the two lakes will undoubtedly be developed. However, the two lakes are located in an alpine environment. The growth rate of the two fishes is quite slow. It takes about 10 years for each kilogram of body weight to grow, and the sexual maturity is slow and the fecundity is low. Therefore, the fishing intensity and mesh size should be properly controlled during the development, so as to make the growth and reproduction of the two fishes relatively stable.

On the islands of the two lakes, there are fish gulls, brown headed gulls, cormorants, red ducks and so on. Especially on the nameless islands in the north of Zhaling, the number of migratory birds is the most. These two islands have never been climbed in the past, and still maintain the original ecological environment. They are ideal places for studying the ecology of migratory birds. Not far from the lake, there are three small islands with an area of 1-2 square kilometers. There are a large number of waterfowls on the island, so it is also called "Bird Island". Most of the birds here are migratory birds. Every spring, tens of thousands of wild geese, yuou and other birds fly here from the Indian peninsula to breed. The important wetlands in the source region of the Yellow River are ideal habitats for a variety of rare fishes and waterfowls on the plateau. The marshes, the lake Peninsula and the water area are important habitats for gulls, geese and ducks, black necked cranes and other waterfowls.

Since June 3, 1999, the Yellow River began to stop flowing between Zaling lake and Eling Lake. The number of times of stopping flowing is as many as five, and the time is as long as half a year. The Yellow River flows out from the south of Zaling lake. The clear river meanders through the wide valley. After 28 kilometers of flow, naduoqu, chenglenaqu and other rivers flow into Erling lake from the southwest, and then flows out from the north of the lake.

development planning

In April 2016, Qinghai Province held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the provincial Party committee to deploy the pilot work of Sanjiangyuan national park system, and proposed to strive to build China's Sanjiangyuan National Park within five years. The scope of Sanjiangyuan National Park includes Kekexili National Nature Reserve in Qinghai Province, and Zhaling lake, Eling Lake, Xinghai and other places in Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.

Climatic characteristics

The average temperature of the lake area for many years is - 4 ℃, which is one of the alpine regions in Qinghai Province. Winter is long and cold. The monthly average temperature from October to next April is below 0 ℃. The average temperature in the coldest January is - 16.5 ℃. The lowest temperature of - 48.1 ℃ was measured on January 2, 1978. Summer is short and cool. The hottest months are July and August. The monthly average temperature is only about 8 ℃, and the highest temperature is only 22.9 ℃.

There is almost no frost free period in the lake area all year round. The two lakes appear shore ice in the middle of October every year, and the whole lake is frozen in late November or early December. The maximum ice thickness on the shore can reach about 1m. After March of the next year, the lake ice began to melt. At the beginning of May, the lake ice almost disappeared, and the freezing period lasted for more than half a year.

The composition of fish fauna is relatively simple. There are only 9 species of fish found in the investigation, while the fish resources of the two lakes are composed of two species, i.e. pterodontoideus and gymnocyprinus variegatus. The individual weight is about 1 kg, and the larger is 2-3 kg. Because it is located in the nomadic area of the Tibetan people with a small population, and the Tibetan people used to regard fish as a God and never eat fish, there was no fishery in the long historical period.

Main landscape

Sister lakes

Zaling lake and Eling Lake are located in Maduo County, the source of the Yellow River, about 40 kilometers away from Maduo County. They are the two largest plateau freshwater lakes at the source of the Yellow River, known as "sister lakes at the source of the Yellow River". The Yellow River originated from karizu and yeguzongliequ in the northern foot of Bayankala mountain, then flowed into Zaling Lake through Xingxiu sea and Maqu River (also known as Kongque River). Zhaling lake is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. It looks like a beautiful big shell embedded in the Yellow River. The lake covers an area of 526 square kilometers, with an average water depth of about 9 meters and a storage capacity of 4.6 billion cubic meters. The water of Zhaling lake is clear and bright, and the south of the lake center is the main stream line of the Yellow River. It looks like a wide milky yellow belt, which divides the lake into two parts, half of which is clear and green, the other half is slightly white, so it is called "white Long Lake". In the southwest corner of Zaling lake, not far from the entrance of the Yellow River, there are three small islands with an area of 1-2 square kilometers. There are a large number of waterfowls on the island, so it is also called "Bird Island". Most of the birds here are migratory birds. Every spring, tens of thousands of wild geese, yuou and other birds fly here from the Indian peninsula to breed.

After a whirl in Zaling lake, the Yellow River enters a long valley more than 300 meters wide in the south of Bayan Langma mountain. Here, the river is divided into nine tracks, scattered through the canyon and flows into Eling Lake.

Eling Lake is located in the east of Zaling lake. The shape of Eling Lake is just opposite to that of Zhaling lake. Eling Lake is narrow from east to west and long from north to south, just like a big gourd. The lake covers an area of 628 square kilometers, 100 square kilometers larger than Zaling lake, with an average water depth of 17.6 meters and a maximum depth of more than 30 meters. The water storage capacity is 10.7 billion cubic meters, more than double that of Zaling lake. The water color of Eling Lake is very clear and dark green. When it is sunny, the clouds in the sky and the surrounding mountains are reflected in the water, so it is called "Blue Lake".

Interestingly, Zhaling lake has islands for birds to live on, while Eling Lake has a natural place for birds to have dinner, which is called "Little West Lake" or "fish restaurant". It turns out that every spring, the source of the Yellow River melts with ice and snow, and the river rises. The water of Eling Lake overflows a bank and flows into Xiaoxi lake, and the fish in the lake also swim in. When the ice and snow melt away and the water source is exhausted, the lake water stops flowing and begins to evaporate. The tide drops rapidly, and the fish begin to die, and they are pushed to the beach by the wind and waves. Birds don't need to work hard to catch fish. They can have a good meal just by taking a seat in the small West Lake. When the number of birds is the most, the birds flying over the sky block out the sun. The sound of "Gaga" can be heard several miles away.

Eling Lake is vast and magnificent. In the morning, the surface of the lake is calm and calm; in the afternoon, the weather often changes dramatically, and the strong wind suddenly rises. The calm surface of the lake is rough and the waves are splashing on the shore. Sometimes, there will be a scene of darkness. One moment, it looks like a series of black tents and banners hunting. It is said that this is the grand scene when Tubo Songzan Ganbu met Princess Wencheng. Another moment, it turns into a little white tent. From far to near, the scene is very spectacular.

Chinese PinYin : Zha Ling Hu