Üüreg Lake ( mn, Үүрэг нуур, ''Üüreg nuur'', zh, 乌雷格湖) is a

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

in an

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

in western

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, north-west of the Great Lakes Hollow, near the western edge of the

Uvs Nuur basin Uvs Lake Basin (also Uvs Nuur Basin or Ubs Nuur Basin; mn, Увс нуурын хотгор, Uws nuuriin hotgor) is an endorheic basin located on the territorial border of Mongolia and Tuva, a republic of the Russian Federation. The basin is part ...

. The Tsagaan river gorge (''Tsagaan Shuvuut Uul'') lies on the west side of the lake.

Geography

The shores of the lake are slightly sloping and smooth, without bays or peninsulas. Several rivers flow into the lake, but most are intermittent. The largest river with a constant flow is the

Khari River Khari River is a river in Western India in Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-larges ...

, which flows into the northwest of the lake. Swamp-type shrubs and swamps grow near the mouth of the Khari River. The lake water is salty due to high evaporation and no outflow. The Üüreg Lake depression is a desert, so there is a lot of evaporation from the water surface. The average annual evaporation is 800-900 mm. In addition to the inflow of rivers, this water loss is offset by rainfall and groundwater. The general salinity of the water is 4.17 g/L.

Flora and fauna

Khankhukhii Mountain, Tokhtoshin-Shil Mountains, Kharkhiraa Turgen mountains, Ulias glass forest, high mountain, rock

argali The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep. I ...

, ram, deer, antelope, leopard, lynx, ibex, marten, pig, wolf, roe deer, wolf, fox, squirrel, ptarmigan, ''rain'', Siberian capercaillie, partridge,

hazel grouse The hazel grouse (''Tetrastes bonasia''), sometimes called the hazel hen, is one of the smaller members of the grouse family of birds. It is a sedentary species, breeding across the Palearctic as far east as Hokkaido, and as far west as eastern a ...

mountain hare The mountain hare (''Lepus timidus''), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a Palearctic hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. Evolution The mountai ...

Siberian chipmunk The Siberian chipmunk (''Eutamias sibiricus''), also called common chipmunk is native to northern Asia from central Russia to China, Korea, and Hokkaidō in northern Japan. It was imported from South Korea and introduced in Europe as a pet in th ...

corsac fox The corsac fox (''Vulpes corsac''), also known simply as a corsac, is a medium-sized fox found in steppes, semi-deserts and deserts in Central Asia, ranging into Mongolia and northern China. Since 2004, it has been classified as ''least concern ...

manul The Pallas's cat (''Otocolobus manul'', also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. Its rounded ears are set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a long bushy tail. It is ...

, badger, stinking brown , artichoke, rabbit, marmot, squirrel, rainbow partridge ,

Mongolian five-toed jerboa The Mongolian five-toed jerboa or Siberian jerboa (''Allactaga sibirica'') is a species of rodent in the family Dipodidae. It is found in China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркмен ...

desman The desman, a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore of the tribe Desmanini (also considered a subfamily, Desmaninae), belongs to one of two Eurasian species of the mole family, Talpidae. This tribe consists of two monotypic genera of semi ...

Mongolian ground jay The Mongolian ground jay (''Podoces hendersoni'') or Henderson's ground jay, is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. Description The bird is light tan with iridescent blue on its primary feathers. It has a long, curved beak and a black stri ...

, bozlog and other animals and plants. The lake is home to various birds such as waterfowls (swans, geese, ducks), peacocks, pelicans, and others. The lake has fish, including Mongolian grayling (''

Thymallus ''Thymallus'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is ''Thymallus thymallus,'' the grayling. The species in the genus are generically called graylings, but ...

brevirostris'') and Altai

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

References

Lakes of Mongolia Endorheic lakes of Asia Uvs Province Saline lakes of Asia {{mongolia-geo-stub