Altyn-Tagh

Altyn-Tagh, Astyn-Tagh, Altun Mountains, Altun Shan or Aerjin Shan (Chinese: 阿尔金山; Altyn Tag is Gold Mountain in Turkic; Shan is Chinese for mountain ; Astyn- Tagh proper is a part of the range south of Lop Nor), is a mountain range in northwestern China that separates the eastern Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Plateau. The western third is in Xinjiang while the eastern part forms the border between Qinghai to the south and Xinjiang and Gansu to the north.

Altun Shan is also the name of a 5,830 metre mountain near the eastern end of the range.

Geography

A series of mountain ranges run along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. In the west are the Kunlun Mountains. About half way across the Tarim basin, where the mountains begin to orient somewhat to the north, the border range becomes the Altyn-Tagh, while the Kunluns continue directly east, forming a "V".^[1] Inside the "V" are a number of endorheic basins. The eastern end of the Altyn-Shan is near the Dangjin Pass on the Dunhuang-Golmud road in far western Gansu. East of the Altyn-Tagh the border range rises to the Qilian Mountains.

Along the northern side of the mountains ran the main Silk road trade route from China proper to the Tarim Basin and westward. The Altun-Tagh and Qilians were sometimes called the Nan Shan ('south mountains') because they were south of the main route. Near the west end of the Altun-Shan the Gansu or Hexi corridor ends and the silk road splits. One branch follows the Altun-Tagh along the south side of the Tarim Basin while the other follows the north side.

The southwestern part of the Altyn-Tagh range reaches snowy peaks of up to 6295 m, although it descends to an average of 4000 m in the narrow middle and eventually rises up to average 5000 m as it meets the Nan Shan.

Intermontane endorheic basins

Inside the "V" shaped area between the Altyn-Tagh and the main Kunlun range (which in this area is called Arka-Tagh) a number of endorheic basins are located.

Within southeastern Xinjiang, the main of these basins is the Kumkol Basin (Chinese: 库木库里盆地; pinyin: Kùmùkùlǐ Péndì)^[1]

The two main lakes in this basin are the saline Lake Aqqikkol (also Ajig Kum Kul^[2], Achak-kum; Chinese: 阿其克库勒湖; pinyin: Āqíkèkùlè Hú; 37°05′N，88°25′E, 4,250 m elevation)^[3] and Lake Ayakkum (Chinese: 阿牙克库木湖; pinyin: Āyákèkùmù hú); 37°30′N，89°30′E; elevation 3,876 m).^[4][5] These lakes are two of the few noticeable bodies of water in this extremely arid area; the area around them is officially protected as the Altun Shan Nature Reserve.^[4]

Farther east, in northwestern Qinghai, the much larger Qaidam Basin starts between the Altyn-Tagh and the Kunlun and extends almost to the east side of the plateau; the Altyn-Tagh separates the west side of this basin from the Kumtagh Desert.

Major Peaks

The six highest peaks are Ak Tag (6748 m), Sulamutag Feng (6245 m), Yusupu Aleketag Shan (6065 m), Altun Shan (5830 m), Muzluktag (5766 m) and Kogantag (4800 m).^[6][7]

Notes

References

• National Geographic Atlas of China, 2008
• Meng, Qing-Ren; Fang, Xiang (2008), "Cenozoic tectonic development of the Qaidam Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau", in Burchfiel, B. C.; Wang, Erchie, Investigations into the tectonics of the Tibetan plateau, Volume 444 of Special paper - Geological Society of America, Geological Society of America, pp. 1–3, ISBN 0-8137-2444-9, http://books.google.com/books?id=BligM888ki0C&pg=PA1 

• Zheng, Mianping (1997), An introduction to saline lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Springer, p. 229, ISBN 0-7923-4098-1, http://books.google.com/books?id=NvD-RMX58cIC&pg=PA229 

External links

• NASA photos of Ayakkum Lake and surrounding area

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.