Altyn-Tagh
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Altyn-Tagh, or Astyn-Tagh (Chinese: 阿尔金山), also called Altun Shan, or Altun Range, is one of the chief constituent ranges of the Kunlun in the southern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China, Central Asia.
Running southwest to northeast, it separates Tibet from Xinjiang and the Gobi Desert. The Altyn-Tagh runs roughly 1,000 km south of Lop Nur and Dunhuang in a southwest to northeast direction, forming the boundary between the Tarim Basin to the north and the Qaidam Basin & Lake A-ya-k'o-k'u-mu (one of the few noticeable bodies of water in this extremely arid area) in the south. The southwest reaches snowy peaks of 6100 meters, although it descendes to an average of 4000 meters in the narrow middle and eventually rises up to average 5000 meters as it meets the Nan Mountains.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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