Aibi Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Börtala, Xinjiang, China |
Lake type | Rift lake |
Basin countries | China |
Surface area | 1070 km² |
Average depth | 1.4 m |
Max. depth | 2.8 m |
Water volume | 760 mil. m³ |
Surface elevation | 189 m |
Aibi Lake (Chinese: 艾比湖; pinyin: Àibǐ Hú) is a rift lake in north west China, near the border to Kazakhstan. Lying at the southeast end of the Dzungarian Gate, it is the catchment center of the Dzungarian Basin, has a size of over 1000 square kilomenters (400 square miles) and an average depth of less than 2 meters (6½ feet). Due to the high salt concentration (87 g/L) of its water, no plants or fish live in the actual lake, though many kinds of fish do live in the mouths of its source rivers.
In August 2007, the Aibi Lake wetland was designated National Nature Reserve by the Chinese government.
The lake now only has 500 km2 surface [1]