Altyn-Tagh (also Altun Mountains, Altun Shan; , Pinyin: ''A'erjin Shan'', Wade–Giles: ''A-erh-chin Shan;'' Uyghur'':ئالتۇن تاغ'') is a mountain range in Northwestern China that separates the Eastern Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Plateau. The western third is in Xinjiang while the eastern part forms the border between

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...

to the south and Xinjiang and Gansu to the north. Altun Shan is also the name of a mountain near the eastern end of the range, the highest point in Gansu.

Etymology

Altyn Tag means ''Gold Mountain'' in Turkic, and Jin Shan () is

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

for '' Gold Mountain''.

Geography

A series of mountain ranges run along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. In the west are the Kunlun Mountains. About halfway across the south side of the Tarim Basin, the Altyn-Tagh Range diverges northeast while the Kunluns continue directly east, forming a relatively narrow "V". Inside the "V" are a number of endorheic basins. The eastern end of the Altyn-Shan is near the Dangjin Pass on the Dunhuang-

Golmud Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan ...

road in far western Gansu. East of the Altyn-Tagh the

border range Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

rises to the Qilian Mountains. The range separates the Tarim Basin, to the north, and

Lake Ayakkum A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, to the south. The range can be divided into three portions. The southwest portion borders the Kunlun Mountains and is very rugged, with peaks reaching more than and many perennial snow fields. The central portion is lower in elevation, around . The eastern portion is higher in elevation, about and consists of a group of smaller ranges oriented in a south-east to north-west trend. Along the northern side of the mountains ran the main Silk road trade route from

China proper China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...

to the Tarim Basin and westward. The Altyn-Tagh and Qilians were sometimes called the Nan Shan ('south mountains') because they were south of the main route. Near the east end of the Altyn-Shan, the Gansu or

Hexi Corridor The Hexi Corridor (, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, IPA: ), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and rela ...

ends and the Silk Road splits. One branch follows the Altyn-Tagh along the south side of the Tarim Basin while the other follows the north side. The southwestern part of the Altyn-Tagh range reaches snowy peaks of up to , although it descends to an average of in the narrow middle and eventually rises up to average as it meets the Qilian Mountains. There are a dearth of rivers and streams in these mountains, due to the aridity of the region. The western portion has some small streams that either head north into the desert or south into Lake Ayakkum. The remainder of the range is lacking in rivers.

Intermontane endorheic basins

Inside the "V" shaped area between the Altyn-Tagh and the main Kunlun range (which in this area is called Arka-Tagh) a number of endorheic basins are located. Within southeastern Xinjiang, the main of these basins is the Kumkol Basin () The two main lakes in this basin are the saline

Lake Aqqikkol Lake Aqqikkol is a saline lake in Xinjiang, China. The lake falls within the borders of Ruoqiang County, and is noted as being a gathering place for local and migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north ...

(also Ajig Kum Kul, Achak-kum; ; 37°05′N, 88°25′E, elevation) and

Lake Ayakum Ayakum Lake is a lake near the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau, to the southeast of the Kunlun Mountains. While many of the small glacier and snowmelt-fed streams on the Plateau give rise to major South-east Asian rivers (including the M ...

(; 37°30′N, 89°30′E; elevation ). These lakes are two of the few noticeable bodies of water in this extremely arid area; the area around them is officially protected as the

Altun Shan Nature Reserve Altun Shan National Nature Reserve () (literally, "O You Golden Mountain") is a large, arid area in the southeast of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, on the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau and the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in northwest Chin ...

. Farther east, in northwestern

, the much larger Qaidam Basin starts between the Altyn-Tagh and the Kunlun and extends almost to the east side of the plateau; the Altyn-Tagh separates the west side of this basin from the

Kumtagh Desert The Kumtag Desert (, "kum-tag" meaning "sand-mountain" in a number of Turkic languages), is an arid landform in Northwestern China, which was proclaimed as a national park in the year 2002. Definitions Broad The oval Tarim Basin with its central ...

Major Peaks

The four highest peaks are (), Yusupu Aleketag Shan (), Altun Shan () and Kogantag ().

Economic development

China National Highway 315 Constructed in 1954, the Qinghai-Xinjiang Highway, also known as the China National Highway 315 (G315) runs west from Xining, Qinghai towards Kashgar, Xinjiang. It is in length. In 1994 the departments of communication and transportation in Qingh ...

crosses the Altyn-Tagh on its way between Qinghai and Xinjiang. The Golmud-Korla Railway (under construction) will cross the Altyn-Tagh as well. The project involves the construction of the 13.195 km-long Altyn-Tagh Tunnel ().格库铁路新疆段首条隧道顺利贯通
(The first tunnel of the Xinjiang section of the Golmud-Korla Railway has been drilled through), 2017-10-31

Notes

Footnotes

References

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External links

NASA photos of Ayakkum Lake
and surrounding area {{Mountain ranges of China Highest points of Chinese provinces Mountain ranges of Gansu Mountain ranges of Xinjiang