Aksai Chin Lake Explained
Aksai Chin Lake or Aksayqin Lake,[1] is an endorheic lake in the disputed region of Aksai Chin. The plateau is administered by China but also claimed by India. Its Tibetan/Ladakhi name is Amtogar or Amtogor Tso[2] [3] which means "encounter with a round object".[4]
Geography
The lake is part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang,[5] The lake is located just south of the Kunlun Mountains. It is approximately long and - across. It is fed by the river of the same name, Aksai Chin River.
China National Highway 219 passes some to the southwest of the lake on its way from Shiquanhe, Tibet to Yarkand, Xinjiang. The lake itself is within Hotan County of Xinjiang, and the official Xinjiang-Tibet border runs about east of the lake.
History
In the 1950s, prior to the Sino-Indian War, India collected salt from this lake and two other lakes in Aksai Chin to study the economic feasibility of potential salt mining operations. This lake was the only lake deemed economically viable.[6] [7]
See also
Notes and References
- Li. Shijie. Zeng. Benxing. Jiao. Keqin. Preliminary research on lacustrine deposits and lake evolution on the southern slope of the West Kunlun mountains. 1989. 7. Bulletin of Glaciological Research. Japanese Society of Snow and Ice. 170–173. (p170) 129 glaciers with area of 709.08 km² and ice volume of 136.2698 km3 in the Aksayqin Lake drainage basin ... (p173) The lake-level of Aksayqin Lake lies at 4844m a.s.l. .
- Book: Lamb, Alastair. Alastair Lamb. The Sino-Indian Border in Ladakh. Asian Publications Series No. 3. 1973. Australian National University Press. Canberra. 0-7081-0399-5. 83.
- Book: The Unfought War of 1962: An Appraisal. 1899 Line: It concedes Karakash, Soda Plain and Amtogor Tso lake to China in the Aksai Chin and retains the rest with India.. Raghav Sharan Sharma. Routledge. 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=ntNBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT151. 9781351056366 .
- Book: Nehru
, Jawaharlal
. Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru. Madhavan K.. Palat. 66. Internet Archive. 14 February 1961. 68. Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. New Delhi. 1 January 2020. 978-01-994670-1-3. Indian side ... drew attention to the fact that ... in Aksai Chin all the major place names were Ladakhi ... Amtogar meant an encounter with a round object.
- Web site: https://www.htx.gov.cn/article/show.php?itemid=81. zh:地貌气候. zh-hans. 29 April 2019. 23 December 2019. Chinese: 和田县政府门户网站. Chinese: 和田县境内有主要湖泊5处：阿克赛钦湖，距县城200千米，面积158平方米，湖面高程 4 963米；. 25 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200625194432/https://www.htx.gov.cn/article/show.php?itemid=81. dead.
- Book: Brig Amar Cheema, VSM. The Crimson Chinar: The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico Military Perspective. 31 March 2015. Lancer Publishers. 978-81-7062-301-4. 157–158. ...though neither side had any physical presence there. The advantage India had was that she administered the grazing grounds and even collected salt from Amtogor Lake, deep in Aksai Chin..
- Book: Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (India). Technical Report. 1958. 127. Brines from (i) Pong Kong, (ii) Sarigh Jilgang Kol and (iii) Amtogor lakes were examined for their suitability for salt manufacture. The brines from the first two sources have been found to be uneconomical for salt manufacture..
