Aksai Chin Lake or Aksayqin Lake, () is an

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

lake in the disputed region of

Aksai Chin Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet, and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir regio ...

. The plateau is administered by China but also claimed by India. Its Tibetan/Ladakhi name is Amtogar or Amtogor Tso which means "encounter with a round object".

Geography

The lake is part of

Hotan County Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of ...

Hotan Prefecture Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (see also #Etymology, § Etymology) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to t ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, The lake is located just south of the

Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kun ...

. It is approximately long and - across. It is fed by the river of the same name, ''Aksai Chin River''.

China National Highway 219 China National Highway 219 (G219; Chinese language, Chinese: ''Guódào219'') is a highway which runs along the entire western and southern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kom-Kanas Mongolian Ethnic Township, Kom-Kanas Mongolian et ...

passes some to the southwest of the lake on its way from

Shiquanhe Shiquanhe (), known in Tibetan as Sênggêkanbab () or Sênggêzangbo, is the main town (China), town and administrative seat of Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shiquanhe is located on the bank of Sênggê Zangbo, the river sour ...

, Tibet to

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

, Xinjiang. The lake itself is within

of Xinjiang, and the official Xinjiang-Tibet border runs about east of the lake.

History

In the 1950s, prior to the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

, India collected salt from this lake and two other lakes in Aksai Chin to study the economic feasibility of potential

salt mining Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite Formation (geology), formations. History Before the advent of the moder ...

operations. This lake was the only lake deemed economically viable.

Notes

References

{{reflist Aksai Chin Lakes of Xinjiang Hotan Prefecture China–India border

Geography

History

See also

Notes

References