Natural salt pans or salt flats are flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals , usually shining white under the sun . They are found in deserts and are natural formations (unlike salt evaporation ponds , which are artificial).
25-583: 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 Plateau (after Xining and Lhasa ). The population in 2020 is 221,863. Golmud is a romanization of a Mongolian word meaning "rivers". Ge'ermu
50-581: A refinery at Golmud. The refinery has a capacity of 1 million metric tons a year; is able to produce 100,000 metric tons a year of methanol and 20,000 MT/yr of polypropylene ; and has a 100,000 MT/yr gas fractionator . According to the National Ethnic Affairs Commission , the per capita disposable income in Golmud was 6,852 yuan in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.3% increase from the one year prior. Golmud has been one of
75-539: A "county-level city" from its actual urban area (the traditional meaning of the word "city"), the term " 市区 " (shìqū) or "urban area", is used. While the idea of a "city" being a unit consisting of several "towns" is not a common one in English-speaking world , a somewhat similar naming convention is used for local government areas in some parts of Australia. For example, in New South Wales such
100-543: A city, which is a municipal entity, and a county, which is an administrative division of a prefecture. Most county-level cities were created in the 1980s and 1990s by replacing denser populated counties . County-level cities are not " cities " in the strictest sense of the word, since they usually contain rural areas many times the size of their urban, built-up area. This is because the counties that county-level cities have replaced are themselves large administrative units containing towns , villages and farmland. To distinguish
125-507: A cold arid climate ( Köppen BWk ), with long, cold winters, and warm summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −8.4 °C (16.9 °F) in January and rises to 18.5 °C (65 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 5.76 °C (42.4 °F). Precipitation is very low, totaling only 45 millimetres (1.77 in) per annum, falling on 28 days, most of which are during
150-434: A desert. If the water cannot drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind minerals precipitated from the salt ions dissolved in the water. Over thousands of years , the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface. These minerals reflect the sun's rays and often appear as white areas. Salt pans can be dangerous. The crust of salt can conceal a quagmire of mud that can engulf
175-588: A salt pan. The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt pan in the world. As of 2024, with an estimated 23 million tons , Bolivia holds about 22% of the world's known lithium resources (105 million tons); most of those are in the Salar de Uyuni. The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. Parts of Rann of Kutch (India) are salt marsh in
200-585: A truck. The Qattara Depression in the eastern Sahara Desert contains many such traps which served as strategic barriers during World War II . The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah , where many land speed records have been set, are a well-known salt pan in the arid regions of the western United States . The Etosha pan , in the Etosha National Park in Namibia , is another prominent example of
225-1230: A unit may often be called a "city" (rather than a traditional "shire"), and consist of "towns". E.g. City of Blue Mountains is made of a number of towns ( Katoomba , Springwood , etc.). Provinces Autonomous regions Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures Autonomous prefectures Leagues (Aimag) (abolishing) Prefectures Provincial-controlled cities Provincial-controlled counties Autonomous counties County-level cities Districts Ethnic districts Banners (Hoxu) Autonomous banners Shennongjia Forestry District Liuzhi Special District Wolong Special Administrative Region Workers and peasants districts Ethnic townships Towns Subdistricts Subdistrict bureaux Sum Ethnic sum County-controlled districts County-controlled district bureaux (obsolete) Management committees Town-level city Areas Villages · Gaqa · Ranches Village Committees Communities Capital cities New areas Autonomous administrative divisions National Central Cities History: before 1912 , 1912–49 , 1949–present As of 3 April 2023, there are 408 county-level cities in total: A sub-prefectural city
250-426: Is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefecture-level cities . Examples include, Xiantao ( Hubei ), Qianjiang ( Hubei ), Tianmen ( Hubei ) and Jiyuan ( Henan ). Salt pan (geology) A salt pan forms by evaporation of a water pool, such as a lake or pond . This happens in climates where the rate of water evaporation exceeds the rate of precipitation — that is, in
275-602: Is at an elevation of 2,809 m (9,216 ft). It grew up alongside the Golmud River , which gave it its name. North of Golmud is the Qarhan Playa , a 5,856 km (2,261 sq mi) salt flat with about ten perennial salt lakes . The largest is Dabusun Lake , which receives the waters of the Golmud. The more important smaller lakes are Suli , South Suli , Dabiele , Xiaobiele , Tuanjie , Xiezuo , Dongling , and North and South Hulsan , which receive
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#1732790120762300-632: Is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the same name's transcription into Chinese characters ; it is sometimes misspelled Geermu . Ko-erh-mu was the same name romanized using the Wade–Giles system ; Golmot was the romanization used by the Chinese Postal Map . The Wylie romanization of the Tibetan form of the name is Nagormo . Golmud is a rather young city. It
325-458: The People's Republic of China . County-level cities have judicial but no legislative rights over their own local law and are usually governed by prefecture-level divisions , but a few are governed directly by province-level divisions . A county-level city is a "city" ( 市 ; shì ) and "county" ( 县 ; xiàn ) that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously
350-502: The Sanhu 's supplies of lithium and rare earths for modern personal electronics and electric cars. In 2016, over 85% of goods movement with Tibet passed through Golmud. Golmud is divided into 5 subdistricts , 2 towns , 2 townships : Others: In 2017, the population of the total area of Golmud was approximately 240,494. A 2018 publication by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission reported that ethnic Han Chinese comprise 69.82% of
375-613: The areas included in China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation program , which the Commission states has entailed the reconstruction of houses in the city with subpar living conditions, and subsidizing low-income students in the city. The commission also states that the government has been developing the production of traditional woodworking, embroidery, and other local crafts through designated "demonstration areas" ( Chinese : 示范区 ; pinyin : shìfàn qū ). Statistics for 2001 show that
400-541: The city's nominal GDP totaled 2.213 billion RMB, a rise of 31.9% from the previous year and the highest growth rate since 1990. Golmud lies along the Qinghai–Tibet railway , a 1,956 km (1,215 mi) railway that starts from Xining and ends at Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region . The Golmud-Lhasa section, with a length of 1,142 km (710 mi), was the last and most challenging part of
425-498: The city's population, and minority ethnic groups comprise 30.18%. The city's is home to 33 ethnic minorities, of which, the largest are the Mongols , Tibetans , and Hui people. Golmud is part of Haixi Prefecture in western Qinghai Province . Despite being nominally a "city", the built-up urban area of Golmud comprises only 72 km (28 sq mi) of the county's 124,500 square kilometres (48,100 sq mi). Most of
450-662: The county lies in the southern Qaidam Basin and in the foothills of the Kunlun Mountains . A large southern exclave is administered as the " town " of Tanggula , separated from the rest of the county by the western panhandle of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture . The northern part borders Xinjiang to its northwest; the southern exclave borders the Tibetan Autonomous Region to its southwest. Golmud proper
475-627: The mineral resources in the playa were estimated to be worth over 15 trillion renminbi (RMB) as of 2002. The area's salt has also trapped valuable hydrocarbons. The Sebei-1 and Sebei-2 fields near Suli Lake are also China's 4th-largest onshore reserves of natural gas and the entire area may have reserves as high as 1 trillion m³ (35 trillion cu. ft.). The larger Sanhu Depression includes East and West Taijinar , which hold China's largest reserves of lithium . The surrounding countryside also produces gold , copper , jade , lead , and zinc . A pipeline delivers crude oil from Huatugou Oilfield to
500-901: The railway to be completed. After five years of construction, the first train for Lhasa left Golmud on 1 July 2006. In October 2012 construction started on the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway . It will actually branch off the Qinghai–Tibet Railway at the Yinmaxia station north of Golmud, and will cross the Qaidam Basin and the Altyn-Tagh / Qilian system on the way to Dunhuang in the neighboring Gansu province. The Golmud-Korla Railway running north west from Golmud into Korla , Xinjiang began construction in November 2014 and
525-401: The summer. Relative humidity averages only 32%, with all months below 40%, some of the lowest levels nationally. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 62% in July to 81% in November, the city receives 3,096 hours of bright sunshine annually. The Qarhan Playa has China's largest reserves of salt , potassium , and magnesium , as well as other valuable minerals. Taken together,
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#1732790120762550-461: The waters of smaller inflowing streams. Qarhan is part of the larger Sanhu Depression , which includes East and West Taijinar Lakes . Other major lakes in the southern exclave of Golmud include Ulan Ul Lake [ zh ] ( Chinese : 乌兰乌拉湖 ; pinyin : Wūlán Wūlā Hú ) and Migriggyangzham Co [ zh ; ru ] ( Chinese : 赤布张错 ; pinyin : Chìbùzhāng Cuò , Standard Tibetan : མི་རིག་རྒྱང་གྲམ་མཚོ ). Golmud has
575-430: Was completed in 2020. Golmud is twinned with: The Golmud Railway is featured as an online multiplayer map in the video game Battlefield 4 . County-level city A county-level municipality ( Chinese : 县级市 ), county-level city or county city , formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: 专辖市 ; 1970–1983: Chinese : 地辖市 ), is a county-level administrative division of
600-608: Was first established in 1954 when the Transportation regiments of Qinghai-Tibet Corps set up a food distribution base, staffed by 10 people, at the current location, and in May of that year, construction on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway commenced. Scientific exploration of the mineral resources of Qarhan were undertaken in the 1950s, leading to the discovery of the area's potash and gas fields . Systematic surveying
625-405: Was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s, with the railway permitting industrial exploitation from the 1980s. The first oil pipeline and potassium fertilizer factory were opened in 1989. The 28 km (11 sq mi) Golmud Kunlun Economic Development Zone was opened in 1992. In 2004, a second pipeline arrived. In the 2010s, an influx of further investment followed realization of the importance of
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