| Golmud 格尔木 |
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| — County-level city — | |
| 格尔木市 | |
| Golmud railway station | |
| Location of Golmud in Haixi, Qinghai, China | |
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Golmud
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| Coordinates (dm): | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Qinghai |
| Prefecture | Haixi |
| Area | |
| • County-level city | 124,500 km2 (48,069.7 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 72 km2 (27.8 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2,809 m (9,216 ft) |
| Population (1999) | |
| • County-level city | 200,000 |
| • Density | 1.6/km2 (4.2/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 130,000 |
| • Urban density | 1,805.6/km2 (4,676.4/sq mi) |
| Time zone | China Standard (UTC+8) |
| Website | http://www.gem.gov.cn/ |
| Golmud | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 格尔木 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 格爾木 | ||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | ན་གོར་མོ་ | ||||||||
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| Mongolian name | |||||||||
| Mongolian | γool modu | ||||||||
Golmud (Mongolian: Голмуд, "rivers"; Chinese: 格尔木; Tibetan: ན་གོར་མོ་), sometimes transliterated as Ge'ermu or Geermu, is a county-level city in Qinghai Province, Western China. Administrated by Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, it is the second largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan Plateau (after Xining and Lhasa). The population is now about 205,700.[1] The name of the city derives from Mongolian, and its literal meaning in the local Western Mongolian is "Rivers".
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Golmud covers a total area of 124,500 square kilometres (48,100 sq mi). This includes an urban area of 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi). Golmud is located in the central-south part of the Qaidam Basin with an elevation of 2,809 metres (9,216 ft). Around the city there are more than 20 salt lakes of various sizes.
A large part of the county-level city of Golmud forms an exclave, separated from the rest of the county by the western "panhandle" of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Administratively, the exclave forms the so-called Tanggula Town.
Golmud has a cold arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers. The mean monthly temperature drops to −9.1 °C (15.6 °F) in January and rises to 17.9 °C (64 °F) in July, averaging 5.28 °C (41.5 °F) for the year. Precipitation is very low, totalling only 42 millimetres (1.65 in) per annum, falling on 28 days, most of which are during the summer. Relative humidity averages only 32%, and due to this aridity, the area is one of the sunniest in China, with nearly 3100 hours of sunshine per year.
| Climate data for Golmud (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −1.3 (29.7) |
2.9 (37.2) |
8.6 (47.5) |
14.5 (58.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
22.6 (72.7) |
24.7 (76.5) |
24.2 (75.6) |
19.3 (66.7) |
12.9 (55.2) |
5.4 (41.7) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −15.3 (4.5) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
5.3 (41.5) |
9.4 (48.9) |
11.6 (52.9) |
10.9 (51.6) |
6.3 (43.3) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−14 (6.8) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | .6 (0.024) |
.4 (0.016) |
1.1 (0.043) |
.9 (0.035) |
3.7 (0.146) |
8.5 (0.335) |
13.5 (0.531) |
7.8 (0.307) |
3.4 (0.134) |
.9 (0.035) |
.7 (0.028) |
.7 (0.028) |
42.2 (1.661) |
| % humidity | 39 | 30 | 27 | 24 | 27 | 33 | 37 | 34 | 33 | 29 | 32 | 38 | 31.9 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.4 | .8 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 4.2 | 2.4 | .7 | .9 | 1.1 | 27.7 |
| Sunshine hours | 219.9 | 210.9 | 247.7 | 274.3 | 295.3 | 273.4 | 276.4 | 284.6 | 261.2 | 277.7 | 247.7 | 227.3 | 3,096.4 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration [2] | |||||||||||||
As of 1999, the population of the total area of Golmud is approximately 200,000, the town has 130,000 inhabitants with ethnic Han Chinese comprising 90.2%.
Due to its location, Golmud abounds with natural resources from nearby salt lakes. Thus, industries involving salt lake chemicals have sprung up. Qarham Salt Lake to the northeast of Golmud proper boasts an area of 5,856 km², making it the biggest inland salt lake in the world. Qarham Salt Lake resources are estimated to be worth over 15 trillion yuan. The lake is also China's largest production base for potassium, magnesium, and salt. Golmud also possesses natural gas reserves of 1 trillion m³ plus over 50 varieties of minerals like gold, copper, jade and precious stones, lead, and zinc. Other important industries in Golmud include petrochemicals, oil refineries, and gas fields. Statistics for 2001 show that the city's nominal GDP totalled 2.213 billion yuan, a rise of 31.9% from the previous year and the highest growth rate since 1990. The Golmud Kunlun Economic Development Zone, which consists of an area of 28 km², was built in 1992. Golmud is planned to become "China's Salt Lake City".[3][4]
Golmud lies along the Qingzang railway(Qinghai-Tibet Railway), a 1956 km railroad that starts from Xining and ends at Lhasa. The Golmud-Lhasa section of 1,142 km was the last and most challenging part of the Qingzang railway to be completed. After construction of 5 years, the first train for Lhasa left Golmud on July 1, 2006.
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