The Valley of the Lakes () is an intermontane depression located in southwestern Mongolia, separating the Khangai and Govi-Altai mountains. The valley stretches 500 km long, has a width of approximately 100 km, and is located at altitudes ranging between 1000 and 1400 meters above sea level. The topography is dominated by sandy and rocky plains, with

solonchak Solonchak (Russian and Ukrainian: Солончак) is a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is a pale or grey soil type found in arid to subhumid poorly-drained conditions. The word is Russian for "sal ...

and takir soils present. Along the valley floor lies a chain of large and small

saline lakes A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

, which are generally shallow, with a saucer-shaped depth profile. The largest of these lakes are

Böön Tsagaan Lake Böön Tsagaan Lake (Mongolian: Бөөн Цагаан нуур) is a large saline lake in Baatsagaan, Bayankhongor Province, Mongolia. Böön Tsagaan Lake and the nearby Taatsiin Tsagaan Lake, Adgiin Tsagaan Lake, and Orog Lake, are collec ...

and Orog Lake. Water levels vary considerably in size both seasonally and from year to year, and some lakes may dry out completely in certain years. They all receive their inflow from rivers which rise in the

Khangai Mountains The Khangai Mountains form a mountain range, range in central Mongolia, some west of Ulaanbaatar. Name Two provinces of Mongolia are named after the Khangai mountains: Arkhangai (North Khangai) and Ovorkhangai (South Khangai). The mild climat ...

, and no permanent inflow comes from the Gobi-Altai. Barchan sand dunes are located on the valley's margins. The region near the Govi-Altai is a seismically active zone and is where the 1957 Mongolia earthquake occurred. Lakes of Gobi Valley are known to be an important staging for migratory waterfowl, particularly

Anatidae The Anatidae are the biological family (biology), family of water birds that includes ducks, goose, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted f ...

and

shorebirds FIle:Vadare - Ystad-2021.jpg, 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, forage for food c ...

, but few details are available. As the lakes shrink in summer, it leaves areas of

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

, especially to the east of the lake. The fish fauna includes species of

Oreoleuciscus ''Oreoleuciscus'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, chubs and true minnows. These are medium to large sizef fishes which are only found in Mongolia and adjacent parts of Ru ...

and Thymallus brevirostris endemic to the western Mongolia. The valley was first explored scientifically by the geographer

Nikolay Przhevalsky Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (or Prjevalsky;; , . – ) was a Russian geographer and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia. Although he never reached his ultimate goal, the city of Lhasa in Tibet, he still travelled through regio ...

. In 1998, the whole valley region (including

, Taatsiin Tsagaan Lake, , and Orog Lake) was designated a Ramsar site of international importance.

References

{{Reflist Depressions of Mongolia Ramsar sites in Mongolia

See also

References