Aydingkol ( Uyghur: , , ), Aydingkul (Mongol) or Ayding () is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the Turpan Depression, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PR China. At 154 m below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, it is the lowest point in China. This lake is now totally dried, and very muddy and salty.

History

In ancient times, Ayding Lake was known as ''juéluòwǎn'' (觉洛浣). The Uyghur derived name ''Aydingköl'' means "moon lake", due to the lake having a layer of white salt along its edge, giving the appearance of a shining moon.

Geography

The lake is located in the south

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning the 'land behind' a city, a port, or similar. Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated wi ...

of the Turpan Depression, approximately 35 kilometres away from the city of

Turpan Turpan () or Turfan ( zh, s=吐鲁番) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the ...

. From east to west, the lake spans 40 kilometres; the north-south span is 8 kilometres; and the total area of the lake is 200 square kilometres. The lake was formed from the formation of an

orogeny Orogeny () is a mountain-mountain formation, building process that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is tectonic uplift, u ...

of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

249 million years ago, and once held approximately 5 million square kilometres of inland sea, which at one time surged up and became vastly extended. During the winter of 1948, the lake basin was once filled with

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

, which primarily originated from melted snow water from the mountains, as well as supplementary

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

; owing to the lesser use of water to irrigate cultivated land during the winter, the water level was higher. During the summertime, the water level declined as a result of increased use of irrigation water for

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, as well as significant natural

evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the Interface (chemistry), surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. A high concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evapora ...

. Due to the expansion of farming in the region, the population using water from the lake subsequently increased, and by 1958 the lake only held up to 22 square kilometres, with a water depth of about 0.8 metres. As of 2000, except for the southwest region, little lakewater remained, and the entire lake area has become a saltpan, with the centre of the lake holding

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, and no longer holds any native birds. During times of intense sunshine,

mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', mean ...

s can often be seen. Nowadays, Ayding Lake has a salt mill, which uses the region's

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...

salt crystals and

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate ...

raw materials to manufacture chemical products. Scenic tours also run near the lake. On 24 July 2015, a new China-wide high temperature record was set at a meteorological station near Aydingkol, with a temperature of 50.3 °C (122.5 °F), a record it held until 17 July 2023 when Sanbao hit 52.2 °C (126 °F).

References

Lakes of Xinjiang Lakes of China Former lakes of Asia Lowest points of countries {{Xinjiang-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

References