Bulungkol Township, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (بۇلۇڭكۆل يېزىسى;, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ) is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

Akto County Akto County (also known as Aqtu, Aktu, or Aketao; ) is a county in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The county borders Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and has two towns, 11 townships, four state-owned far ...

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, China. Located in the middle west of the county, the township covers an area of 4,585 square kilometers with a population of 7,133 (as of 2017). It has 5 administrative villages under its jurisdiction. Its seat is at ''Bulungkol Village'' ().

Name

The name of Bulungkol is from Kyrgyz language, meaning "lake in the corner" (), it was named after the Bulungkol Lake () in its territory.

History

In 1955, Bulungkol was transferred to Akto County from Tashkurgan County. In 1959, Bulungkol Commune () was established. In 1967, Bulungkol Commune was renamed Fanxiu Commune ('

anti-revisionism Anti-revisionism is a position within Marxism–Leninism which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from his predecessor Joseph Stalin, ...

commune' ). In 1984, Fanxiu Commune became Bulungkol Township.

Geography

The township of Bulungkol is located on the Pamir Plateau, in the southwest of

, between east longitude 74°36′- 75°37′ and north latitude 38°10′- 38°58′. It is bordered by

Barin Township Barin Township, also spelled Baren (Sourced to the ''Xinjiang Public Security Gazette'' (), pages 790-795) (; ), is a township of Akto County (Aketao), Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture (Kezilesu), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The t ...

and Kirzilto Township to the east, by the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Oytak to the north, by Muji Township to the west, and by Tashkurgan County and the

Republic of Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centra ...

to the south. The township has an border with neighboring Tajikistan, with 8 mountain passes connecting the two. The seat of Bulungkol Township is away from the Akto County seat. The area of grassland is , and the area of grazed grassland is . Bulungkol comprises a number of mountains and valleys, with most of its elevation ranging from to above sea level. The township's highest point, Kongur Tiube, is above sea level. The mountains of Kongur Tagh and Muztagh Ata are cascaded, the gullies are horizontal and vertical, and the peaks are covered with snow all year round. There are large areas of

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s, with the and the Kangxiwar River () originating from these glaciers. Bulungkol Township's landscape also includes a number of lakes and springs.

Flora and fauna

The township is home to rare wild animals, such as the

snowcock The snowcocks or snowfowl are a group of bird species in the genus ''Tetraogallus'' of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are ground-nesting birds that breed in the mountain ranges of southern Eurasia from the Caucasus to the Himalayas and we ...

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

, procapra przewalskii and

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. It ...

. There is also rare vegetation such as

sand holly ''Ilex ambigua'' is a species of flowering plant in the holly family known by the common names Carolina holly and sand holly. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States, along the coastal plain from North Carolina to Texas, ...

and snow lotus.

Geology

The mineral resources mainly include metal mines such as

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

, and non-metallic minerals such as

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and

muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula K Al2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavag ...

Climate

Bulungkol Township has an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions o ...

with an average annual temperature of . The township's average temperature in January is , and its an average temperature in July is . Bulungkol Township typically experiences an annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

of between and , and a frost-free period of 90 to 100 days. File:Kongur south.jpg, South face of Kongur Tagh File:Kongur Shan.jpg, Kongur Tagh File:公格尔雪峰 - panoramio.jpg, Kongur Tagh File:Karakul-kongur-d11.jpg, Karakul Lake File:7,719m Kongur Tagh Gez Valley Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路盖孜河谷公格尔峰 - panoramio.jpg, Gez Valley File:7,719m Kongur Tagh Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路公格尔峰 - panoramio (1).jpg,

gobi The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...

and

s File:Lake Bulungkol Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路白沙湖 - panoramio (1).jpg, Bulungkol Lake File:Lake Bulungkol Karakoram Highway Kyrgyz Xinjiang China 新疆吉爾吉斯喀喇昆仑公路白沙湖 - panoramio (3).jpg, Bulungkol Lake File:NJ-43-6 Murgab, Soviet Union; China.jpg, Map of the region including Bulungkol ( DMA, 1988)

Administrative divisions

Bulungkol Township governs the following five administrative villages (): * Bulungkol (بۇلۇڭكۆل كەنت, Bulunkou ) * Gez (Gaizi, Gaizicun;, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ) * Qiake'er'aigele (Qiake’er Aigelecun;, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ) * Subax (Subashi; ), location of

Kongur Tagh Kongur Tagh or Kongkoerh ( Kyrgyz: Коңур Тоо; Uyghur: , Коңур Тағ, meaning "Brown Mountain"; mn, Хонгор Таг, (Хонгор/Kongur/Kongur is Mongolian word for the color Mongolians use for Buckskin colored horse) ''Hongor ...

( 公格尔九别峰) * Tuogayi () These administrative villages also include a number of natural villages (), which do not serve as

administrative divisions Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

, such as the village of Qarjayit ().

Demographics

, the population of Bulungkol Township was 99.9% Kyrgyz.

Economy

Animal husbandry is the main component of Bulungkol's economy, producing ''Subashi'' Large-tailed Sheep (). Mineral resources include iron, copper,

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, pr ...

beryl Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2Si6O18. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and aquamarine. Naturally occurring, hexagonal crystals of beryl can be up to several ...

and others.

Transportation

China National Highway 314 China National Highway 314 (G314) (sometimes referred to as Gansu Provincial Highway 314) runs southwest from Urumqi, Xinjiang towards the Khunjerab Pass, which is on the northern border of the Gilgit–Baltistan territory in Pakistan-administe ...

, part of the

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...

Tourism

The main tourist attractions are Karakul Lake, a designated national tourist attraction, and Baisha Mountain ().

References

{{Administrative divisions of Akto County Township-level divisions of Akto County