Lake Edin

Aiding Lake is called "jueloyuan" in Uighur, which means "Moonlight Lake". Aiding Lake is 155 meters below sea level. It is the lowest altitude in China and the nearest place to the center of the earth in the world.

Aiding Lake is an inland saline lake with extremely high salinity, extremely arid climate, extremely desolate landscape and unique development of surface salt crust, which constitutes a spectacular original picture. On the South Bank of Lake aiding, the Gobi is vast and boundless. At a glance, the abandoned ancient Karez is vividly visible and has gone through many vicissitudes. Desert plants such as Alhagi and Salix are lush.

Lake Edin

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

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Aiding Lake, located in Gaochang District, Turpan City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is the lowest point of Turpan Basin and the lowest point of China's land. The lake is 154.31 meters below sea level

The lowest part of the lake bottom is - 161 meters. Turpan Basin is a closed Intermountain basin in the south of Eastern Tianshan Mountain in China, and Aiding Lake is the destination of surface runoff in Turpan Basin.

Practical information

Ticket information

30 yuan / person (including Aiding Lake Ancient Village) ticket (adult ticket)

Traffic information

It is more than 50 km to the south of Gaochang District, Turpan city. It costs about 100 yuan to travel back and forth before charter. There are many salt flats, alkaline land and sand dunes around Aiding Lake, so the road is not easy to walk.

Main attractions

Lake aiding is different from other lakes in that it is covered with salt crusts. Now, its outer ring is a lacustrine plain, the surface is a hard salt land, the middle ring is a salt swamp, and the bottom is silt. Except in winter, it is difficult for people to walk in. The center of the lake is full of crystal salt. According to research, as early as 20000 years ago, Aiding Lake used to be a large freshwater lake. The lake water contains a large amount of chlorine, sodium and potassium plasma. The minerals include rock salt, mirabilite, anhydrous mirabilite, gypsum, glauberite and a variety of potassium, magnesium salts, salt and mirabilite. Its reserves are more than 300 million tons. It is the lake with the largest mineralization degree in China.

It is a natural halophyte garden. The low salt spiced wood, crisp and hard flower firewood, sharp camel thorn and black thorn, Haloxylon ammodendron and other plants are nourished by the saline alkali soil, bringing vitality to this almost dry lake, forming a unique plant landscape.

It's an animal paradise. Precious national first-class protected animals such as snow leopard, North goat, Tibetan wild donkey and second-class protected animals such as spotted cat, brown bear, goose larynx antelope, argali, rock sheep, red deer and lynx are frequently found here. Occasionally, you can see the rare and endangered wild camels come here to look for water and food.

It's also a paradise for birds. Once upon a time, white stork, black stork, swan, cygnet, goshawk, kite, kestrel and other rare birds and flocks of geese, ducks, sparrows, etc. lived in bushes, swam on the water, or soared in the blue sky between lakes. But now, these magnificent scenes are not seen, but the swarms of small flying insects passing by from time to time and the occasional rabbits and mice scurrying under the feet still attract an endless stream of Chinese and foreign tourists.

Don't think that Aiding Lake only represents a lake. It also contains the remains of human civilization. On its north and south sides, one is Tashi beacon and the other is wupantura beacon. Although they are not outstanding in appearance, the relics left by the ancient people's war and defense here have made them the beacon with the lowest altitude in China, and given Lake aiding a cultural depth.

geographical position

Aiding Lake, a faulted lake in the southwest of Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, is located in qiatkale Township, 50km south of Gaochang District, Turpan city. It was formerly called juelohuan, and aiding Kule in Uyghur, meaning moonlight lake. The elevation of the lake is 154.31 meters below sea level, which is the lowest point on the land of China and the second lowest place in the world after the dead sea of Jordan (the lake is 392 meters below the Mediterranean Sea). In the past, the lake basin was about 40 kilometers long from east to west and 8 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of 150 square kilometers. There are three sources of lake water supply: the first is the summer flood of the river, mainly from Alagou; the second is the winter flow of Karez; the third is the drainage of irrigation area, which flows into the lake through underground runoff. Since the 1950s, due to the expansion of irrigation area and the increase of farmland water diversion, the amount of river flood recharge is very small. Due to the construction of a reservoir at the outlet of Karez to store winter water, the amount of winter water recharge from Karez to Aiding Lake has decreased. At present, the main recharge is only underground runoff, so most of the lake basin has dried up.

Climate conditions

It is one of the hottest and driest areas in the world. The annual precipitation is less than 20 mm, and the evaporation is thousands of times greater than the precipitation. The annual average temperature is 14 ℃, the extreme high temperature is 48 ℃, and the surface temperature is more than 80 ℃. On July 14, 2011, the maximum temperature of Aiding Lake Regional Automatic Weather Station was 50.2 ℃, which was the first record of more than 50 ℃ in China, becoming the hottest place in China.

Main facilities

Turpan sand control station of Chinese Academy of Sciences is built in the northwest of the lake basin. In June 1986, Ma Ming, from Xinjiang Institute of biological soil and desert, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted an investigation on birds in the lake area.

Resources

Natural resources:

Main vegetation: salinized meadow and desert grassland composed of Suaeda salsa and grass.

Social resources:

The special geographical location and heat resources of economic and social value attract scholars and tourists at home and abroad. It is one of the famous tourist destinations in China.

Lake changes

In 1756 (the 21st year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty), he guozong and ha qinga, the generals of the Qing Dynasty, led a team to survey Aiding Lake. According to the map of the Qing Dynasty published in 1909 (the first year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty), the water area of Aiding Lake at that time was 230 square kilometers.

According to the statistics in the early 1950s, the lake is 40 kilometers long from east to west and 8 kilometers wide from north to south, with an area of nearly 152 square kilometers.

According to the observation and calculation of 1958 aerial photos, the lake is approximately oval, 7.5km long from east to west, 3km wide from north to south, about 0.8m deep, and covers an area of 22.5km2.

In August 1962, the lake dried up. In 1973, according to the interpretation of the Mss4 band of the US Landsat, there was water again, covering an area of 29 square kilometers. In the early 1980s, the lake was less than 17 square kilometers.

In 1984, the lake dried up again. In 1989, TM satellite images showed that the lake was crescent shaped, the water surface had retreated to about 11 square kilometers, and the wetland around the lake was about 72 square kilometers.

In 1993, the bottom of the lake hardened, and it was feasible to drive cars. The water surface is 3 square kilometers.

In 1994, the area was less than 3 square kilometers, forming sporadic and flaky puddles. In 1999, the U.S. sounding satellite took a picture of Lake aiding, which showed that lake aiding was resurrected. Interpreted from satellite photos, the lake covers an area of 75 square kilometers. In the late 1990s, Turpan experienced a three-year wet season. On April 26, 2000, the satellite cloud image was estimated to be 66 square kilometers.

In 2010, only 0.5 square kilometers were left, and by January 2016, the lake had basically dried up, with 90 square kilometers of exposed salinized area.

In order to maintain the basic survival needs of the people of all ethnic groups in Turpan, since the 1960s, the amount of groundwater exploitation has increased year by year, with an average annual overdraft of 248 million cubic meters. The groundwater level has declined year by year. The number of Karez with water has dropped from more than 1200 in 1957 to more than 200 today, and the groundwater has been unable to recharge Aiding Lake.

Altitude survey

From September 28, 2008, the elevation of Aiding Lake depression in Turpan, Xinjiang, the lowest point in China, will follow the latest data of - 154.31 meters, and will be used in administrative management, news communication, foreign exchange, teaching and other activities that have an impact on the public. It is understood that this data is 0.13 meters longer than the measurement data in 1979.

At that time, at the press conference of Aiding Lake depression in Xinjiang, local people celebrated the birth of the latest China's landmark data with distinctive national songs and dances. With the approval and authorization of the State Council, the State Bureau of Surveying and mapping and the people's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region officially released the latest data to all walks of life in Beijing and Xinjiang Turpan Aiding Lake depression. This is another major data release after China released the latest elevation of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, in 2005.

The geographical point is located 30 kilometers southeast of Turpan City, Xinjiang, surrounded by Gobi and saline alkali land. There are many red willows and scattered salt lakes not far away. It is also a national wild camel reserve.

Kong Jinhui, director of the achievements Department of the National Bureau of Surveying and mapping, who came to release the new data, said that from now on, the new data will be used in administrative management, news dissemination, foreign exchange, teaching and other activities that have an impact on the public.

In 1979, the elevation data of Aiding Lake depression released by China for the first time was - 154.44m, which became the lowest point of China's land.

Address: qiatkale Township, Shanshan County, Turpan City, Turpan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Longitude: 89.264198303222

Latitude: 42.660257848735

Tour time: half a day

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Chinese PinYin : Ai Ding Hu