North Hulsan Lake

North or Bei Hulsan Lake, also known by other names, is a lake northeast of Golmud in Dulan County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. A part of the Qarhan Playa, it is filled from the east by the Qaidam River. Like the other lakes of the surrounding Qaidam Basin, it is extremely saline.

North Hulsan Lake
The Qarhan Playa (1975), with North Hulsan in the east
North Hulsan Lake
LocationDulan County
Haixi Prefecture
Qinghai Province
China
Coordinates36°54′30″N 95°54′28″E
TypeEndorheic saline lake
Native name
  • 北霍布逊湖 (in Chinese)
  • ᠬᠣᠶᠢᠳᠤ ᠬᠤᠯᠤᠰᠤ ᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ (in Mongolian)
Primary inflowsQaidam River
Basin countriesChina
Surface area52–90 km2 (20–35 sq mi)
Surface elevation2,675 m (8,780 ft)
North Hulsan Lake
North Huobuxun
Traditional Chinese北霍布遜湖
Simplified Chinese北霍布逊湖
North Huoluxun
Traditional Chinese北霍魯遜湖
Simplified Chinese北霍鲁逊湖
Literal meaningNorth Hulsan Lake
Mongolian name
Mongolian scriptᠬᠣᠶᠢᠳᠤ ᠬᠤᠯᠤᠰᠤ ᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ

Name

Hulsan[1][2][3] or Hollusun Nor[4] is a romanization of the Mongolian name meaning "Reed Lake", from their former abundance in the area.[5] The adjective "north" distinguishes it from nearby South Hulsan Lake.[5] Huoluxun and Huobuxun[lower-alpha 1] are the pinyin romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciation of the same name's transcriptions into Chinese characters. Bei Hulsan or Beihuobuxun[2] is the same name, prefixed with the Chinese word for "North".

Geography

North Hulsan Lake lies in the northern Hulsan subbasin[9] at the eastern edge of the Qarhan Playa in the southeastern corner of the Qaidam Basin[6][7] at an elevation of 2,675 m (8,780 ft).[1] It lies east of Xiezuo Lake and north of South Hulsan Lake.[9] It was reported by Zheng in 1997 as usually about 90.4 km2 (35 sq mi),[1] and by Zhang & al. in 2014 as 82.49 km2 (32 sq mi),[3] but by Zhou & al. as varying between dry and wet years from 52.55–88.21 km2 (20–34 sq mi).[10] North Hulsan Lake is chiefly fed from the east by the Qaidam River[11][7] (t 柴達木河, s 柴达木河, Cháidámù Hé). In the area's hyperarid climate, there is generally only 28–40 mm (1–2 in) of annual rainfall but about 3,000 mm (120 in) of annual evaporation.[2] It is never more than about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) deep.[2] An inflow from the north by mineral springs in the playa's northern karst zone contribute a smaller volume of water[2] but its much higher solute concentration greatly affects the lake and its sediments.[12][13] North Hulsan Lake's sediments have a relatively higher potassium content than most other lakes in the playa.[14]

History
Further information: Qaidam Basin § History

North Hulsan Lake has been greatly affected[15] by the rapid expansion of the industrial processing of Qarhan's salt lakes for potassium and other valuable minerals since 2000.[16] Fang & al. found it had lost 8.1 Gt (8.9 billion short tons) of water between 1995 and 2015,[17] and Zhou & al. reported that the lake proper could not be distinguished at all from the surrounding salt pans in satellite imagery as of 2014.[18]

See also

Notes
  1. Misspelled "Huobusun" in Spencer & al.,[6] Lowenstein & al.,[7] and others and "Hobuxun" by Garrett.[8]

References

Citations
  1. Zheng (1997), p. 16
  2. Yu & al. (2001), p. 62.
  3. Zhang & al. (2014), Table 1.
  4. Gross (1935).
  5. Jia (2019).
  6. Spencer & al. (1990), p. 396.
  7. Lowenstein & al. (2009), p. 75.
  8. Garrett (1996), p. 177.
  9. Du & al. (2018), pp. 2–3.
  10. Zhou & al. (2016), p. 6.
  11. Spencer & al. (1990), p. 397.
  12. Spencer & al. (1990), pp. 398, 399, & 403.
  13. Lowenstein & al. (2009), p. 78.
  14. Spencer & al. (1990), p. 404.
  15. Zhou & al. (2016), p. 3.
  16. Zhou & al. (2016), p. 2.
  17. Fang & al. (2019), p. 12.
  18. Zhou & al. (2016), p. 4.

Bibliography
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