June 23rd, 2009 Category: Image of the day, Lakes, Rivers

Lake Uvs, Mongolia - June 8th, 2009

Lake Uvs, or Uvs Nuur, is a highly saline lake in an endorheic basin in Mongolia with a small part in Russia – its northeastern tip, situated in Russia’s Tuva Republic. All of the lake and many parts of its surroundings have been declared protected sites.

It is the largest lake in Mongolia by surface area, covering 3,350 km² at 759 m above sea level. Uvs Nuur has a length of 84 km and a width of 79 km, with an average depth of 6 m. This shallow and very saline body of water is the remainder of a huge saline sea which covered a much larger area several thousand years ago.

Its basin is separated from the rest of the Great Lakes Depression by the Khan Khökhii ridge. However, it is not a rift lake as some mistakenly think.

The main feeding rivers are the Baruntara Gol, Nariin Gol, and Tesiin Gol from the Khangai Mountains in the east, and the Kharkhiraa River and Sangil Gol from the Altai Mountains in the west. All of these can be

The very large catchment area with no exit results in highly saline water (18.8 ppt, 5 times saltier than the oceans), primarily due to sulphate and sodium ions.

Tags: Baruntara Gol Great Lakes Depression Khan Khökhii Ridge Kharkhiraa River Lake Uvs Mongolia Nariin Gol Russia Salt Lake Sangil Gol Tesiin Gol Tuva Republic Uvs Nuur | Comments (3) |