Great Lakes Depression
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The Great Lakes Depression (Mongolian: Их нуруудын хотгор, Ikh Nuuruudyn Khotgor) is a large semi-arid depression in Mongolia, covering parts of the Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan, and Govi-Altai aimags. It has an area over 100,000 sq.km and elevations ranging 750-2000 m. Small northern parts of the depression are part of Russia.[1]
The depression is named so because it contains six major Mongolian lakes Uvs Nuur (saline), Khar-Us Nuur (freshwater), Khyargas Nuur (saline), Khar Nuur (freshwater), Airag Nuur (freshwater), and Dörgön Nuur (saline), as well as a number of smaller ones. It also includes solonchaks and large sandy areas of total area over 14, 000 sq. km. Northern parts are dominated by arid steppes, southern parts are semideserts and deserts. The major rivers are Khovd Gol, Zavkhan Gol, and Tesiin Gol. [1]
It is bounded by the Altai (West), Khangai (East), and Tannu-Ola Mountains (North).[1]
The depression is a major freshwater basin of Mongolia and contains important wetlands of Central Asia. The wetlands are based on the system of interconnected shallow lakes with wide reed belts within a generally desert steppe. The wetlands support a number of rare and endangered migrating birds: Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), Black Stork (Ciconia nigra), Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Swan Goose (Cygnopsis cygnoides), and Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus). Only a few individuals of White pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) remain in the Great Lakes Basin in Mongolia. They nest in catchment areas of rivers and lakes that have abundant fish and vegetation.[2]
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- Birdsview of the Great Lakes Depression computer visualization generated from satellite data, showing (from front to back) Dörgön Nuur, Khar Nuur, Khyargas Nuur, and Uvs Nuur, as well as Üüreg Nuur left of Uvs Nuur. The green line on the left is the valley of the Khovd Gol with Khar Us Nuur and Achit Nuur.
