{{Short description|Lake in Qinghai, China}} {{Infobox body of water |name = Lake Heihai|native_name ={{native name|zh|黑海}} |image =File:Satellite Image of Lake Heihai.png |alt =Satellite image |caption = False-color satellite photograph of Lake Heihai |pushpin_map = Qinghai |pushpin_map_alt =Map of Qinghai |pushpin_map_caption = Location of Lake Heihai in Qinghai |image_bathymetry = |alt_bathymetry = |caption_bathymetry = <!-- Stats --> |location = Golmud County<br />Haixi Prefecture<br />Qinghai Province<br />China |coordinates = {{coord|36|00|00|N|93|15|00|E|region:CN-QH_type:waterbody|display =it}} |type = |etymology = {{nowrap|"Black Sea"}} |inflow = |rivers = |outflow = Kunlun River |catchment = {{convert|1600|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}} |agency = |designation = |length = {{convert|12|km|sp=us|abbr=on}} |width = {{convert|5|km|sp=us|abbr=on|0}} |area = {{convert|38.3|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}} |depth = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> |max-depth = {{convert|22.5|m|sp=us|abbr=on}} |volume = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> |salinity = Mesohaline |shore = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> |elevation = {{convert|4420|-|4446|m|sp=us|abbr=on}} |temperature_high = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> |temperature_low = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used --> |frozen = |islands = |islands_category = |sections = |trenches = |benches = |cities = <!-- Map --> |website = |reference = }} {{Chinese |c={{linktext|黑海}} |p=Hēi Hǎi |w=Hei Hai |psp= |l={{nowrap|Black Sea}}<br />{{nowrap|Dark Sea}} }} {{Chinese |title=Alternative names |t={{linktext|西王母|瑤池}} |s={{linktext|西王母|瑶池}} |p=Xīwángmǔ Yáochí |w=Hsi Wang Mu Yao Ch'i<br />Hsi-wang-mu-yao-ch'i |l={{nowrap|The Jade Pond of the}} {{nowrap|Queen Mother of the West}} }}
'''Lake Heihai'''<!--Chinese in infobox; see WP:MOS-ZH.--> is a small mesosaline lake in Golmud County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in western China.
{{anchor|Name|Toponymy|Etymology}}
==Names== "Lake Heihai" is an English clarification of the pinyin romanization of the Chinese name {{nowrap|''Hēi Hǎi'',}} meaning {{nowrap|"Black Sea"}}. (As with Qinghai Lake, the Chinese word for "sea" is sometimes used to translate the Mongolian ''naɣur'' ({{lang|mn|{{linktext|ᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ}}}}), which was once used ambiguously for all large bodies of water.) The lake is also known as {{nowrap|''Xīwángmǔ Yáochí''}} ("Jade Pond of the Queen Mother of the West") from an old legendary location in the Kunlun Mountains and sometimes confused with Lake Hala in the Qilian Mountains.{{sfnp|Zhang & al.|2013}}
==Geography== Lake Heihai is located about {{convert|200|km|sp=us|abbr=on}} south of the city of Golmud{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} in Golmud County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, at an elevation of {{convert|4420|m|sp=us|abbr=on}}{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=92}}{{sfnp|Stauch & al.|2017}} or {{convert|4446|m|sp=us|abbr=on}}{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} above sea level{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} in western China. It lies in a valley roughly {{convert|50|km|sp=us|abbr=on|0}} long and {{convert|15|km|sp=us|abbr=on|0}} wide between the Kunlun Mountains (highest elevation about {{convert|5700|m|sp=us|abbr=on|disp=or}}) to the south and the Burhan Buda (highest elevation about {{convert|5400|m|sp=us|abbr=on|disp=or}}) to the north.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=93}} Earthquakes are common, as the lake lies near the major {{convert|1600|km|sp=us|abbr=on}} long Kunlun Fault.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=93}}
Covering {{convert|38.3|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}},{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} it stretches about {{convert|12|km|sp=us|abbr=on}} from east to west and {{convert|5|km|sp=us|abbr=on|0}} north to south.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} The deepest point is around {{convert|22.5|m|sp=us|abbr=on}} below its surface.{{sfnp|Lockot & al.|2015}}{{sfnp|Ramisch & al.|2016}} Two main streams feed into the lake,{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=93}}{{sfnp|Ramisch & al.|2016}} with a catchment of around {{convert|1600|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}}.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=92}} Meltwater flows from two small glaciated areas in the Kunluns. The west is about {{convert|38|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}}, the east about {{convert|24|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}}; both appear to have retreated roughly {{convert|100|m|sp=us|abbr=on}} since 1970.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=97}} The outflow to the east is the source of the Kunlun River, the upper stretch of the Golmud River.{{sfnp|Zhang & al.|2013}}{{sfnp|Stauch & al.|2017}}
With mean annual precipitation of {{convert|250|mm|sp=us|abbr=on|0}} and high evaporation rates,{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=93}} the lake's water is mesohaline.{{sfnp|Ramisch & al.|2016}} The mean annual temperature is {{convert|-8|C|sp=us|abbr=on}},{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=93}} so much of the surrounding countryside is permafrost{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=94}} alpine grassland, supporting dwarf cinquefoil and winterfat shrubs and sparse sedges and grasses.{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} ''Polygonum sibiricum'' occupies moist saline sites close to the lake;{{sfnp|Müller & al.|2014}} drier land further from shore is characterized by ''Kobresia robusta'' on the sandier north side and ''Poa pachyantha'' on the south side.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=94}}
==History== During the Pleistocene, sediment from glaciers in the Kunlun temporarily blocked outflow of the valley's main meltwater stream,{{sfnp|Ramisch & al.|2016}} forming the present lake.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=98}} Particularly strong winds weathered and shaped the surrounding rocks from 100{{ndash}}80,000 years ago.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=113}} At its maximum extent, an Ice Age glacier filled most of the present valley,{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=97}} which increased its catchment about {{convert|200|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}}. At times, probably around 50 kya, 13 kya, and 11.6 kya,{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=111}} Lake Heihai overflowed the present {{convert|10|m|sp=us|abbr=on}} elevation difference to join with the smaller lake to its west, increasing its catchment by another {{convert|230|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}} and leaving lacustrine sediments across {{convert|28|sqkm|sp=us|abbr=on}} of now-dry land.{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=98}} During the mid-Holocene, from around 8{{ndash}}4,000 years ago,{{sfnp|Stauch|2016|p=113}} the climate was wetter and warmer, possibly from increased influence from the Indian{{sfnp|Ramisch & al.|2016}} or East Asian monsoon. By the late Holocene, the monsoon was no longer able to reach the lake and its environment became drier and windier again.{{sfnp|Stauch & al.|2017}}
==Culture== As the largest present lake in the Kunlun Mountains, it has become identified with the "Jade Pond" (also translated as the "Nacre" or "Turquoise Pond" and "Lake of Gems") important in various myths involving the Queen Mother of the West. Lake Heihai has a stone temple to the Queen Mother and a large slab reading "Xiwangmu Yaochi" ({{lang|zh|西王母瑤池}}).
==See also== * List of lakes in China
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist|30em}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |first=Gregori |last=Lockot |contribution=A Process- and Provenance-Based Attempt to Unravel Inconsistent Radiocarbon Chronologies in Lake Sediments: An Example from Lake Heihai, North Tibetan Plateau (China) |author2=Arne Ramisch |author3=Bernd Wünnemann |author4=Kai Hartmann |author5=Torsten Haberzettl |author6=Hao Chen |author7=Bernhard Diekmann |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Lockot & al.|2015}} |volume=57 |issue=5 |date=2015 |pages=1003–1019 |title=Radiocarbon |publisher=University of Arizona |location=Phoenix |doi=10.2458/azu_rc.57.18221 |s2cid=130621589 }}. * {{citation |last=Müller |first=Carolina |display-authors=1 |author2=Harald Kürschner |contribution=Phytosociological and Palynological Studies of Alpine Steppe Communities on the Northern Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province, China |title=Feddes Repertorium Journal of Botanical Taxonomy and Geobotany |doi=10.1002/fedr.201400006 |location=Weinheim |publisher=Wiley-VCH Verlag |volume=124 |issue=4 |date=December 2014 |pages=122–138 |ref={{harvid|Müller & al.|2014}} }}. * {{citation |last=Ramisch |first=Arne |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep25791 |article-number=25791 |title=A Persistent Northern Boundary of Indian Summer Monsoon Precipitation over Central Asia during the Holocene |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=6 |date=2016 |doi=10.1038/srep25791 |author2=Gregori Lockot |author3=Torsten Haberzettl |author4=Kai Hartmann |author5=Gerhard Kuhn |author6=Frank Lehmkuhl |author7=Stefan Schimpf |author8=Philipp Schulte |author9=Georg Stauch |author10=Wang Rong |author11=Bernd Wünnemann |author12=Yan Dada |author13=Zhang Yongzhan |author14=Bernhard Diekmann |pmid=27173918 |pmc=4865755 |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Ramisch & al.|2016}} |doi-access=free }}. * {{citation |last=Stauch |first=Georg |editor=Frank Lehmkuhl |editor2=R. Mäusbacher |editor3=L. Owen |display-editors=0 |url=https://d-nb.info/1163276065/34 |title=Aeolian Sediments on the Northern Tibetan Plateau |date=21 June 2016 |location=Aachen |publisher=Rheinisch–Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule }}. * {{citation |last=Stauch |first=Georg |author2=Philipp Schulte |author3=Arne Ramisch |author4=Kai Hartmann |author5=Daniela Hülle |author6=Gregori Lockot |author7=Bernhard Diekmann |author8=Veit Nottebaum |author9=Carolina Müller |author10=Bernd Wünnemann |author11-last=Yan |author11-first=Dada |author12=Frank Lehmkuhl |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Stauch & al.|2017}} |date=June 2017 |title=Geomorphology |volume=286 |pages=78–92 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.03.008 |contribution=Landscape and Climate on the Northern Tibetan Plateau during the Late Quaternary |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam }}. * {{citation |last=Zhang |first=Wanyi |author-mask=Zhang Wanyi |author2=Steffen Mischke |author3=Zhang Chengjun |author4=Gao Dou |author5=Fan Rong |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Zhang & al.|2013}} |date=November 2013 |volume=313 |pages=38–46 |title=Quaternary International |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.020 |contribution=Ostracod Distribution and Habitat Relationships in the Kunlun Mountains, Northern Tibetan Plateau |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam }}. {{refend}}
==External links== * [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GL080225 A map of the Heihai's catchment]
Heihai