Aydingkol Lake

  Aydingkol Lake, 40 kilometers south of the city of Turpan, is the "Bottom of the Depression". The lake, 40 kilometers in length, 8 kilometers in breadth and 152 square kilometers in size, is 154.33 meters below the Yellow Sea level, the second inland depression next only to the Dead Sea (-391 meters) in the world.Millions of years ago, Aydingkol Lake was a freshwater lake one thousand times the size of the present one. But, except for a sheet of very shallow water in its southwest part, today's Aydingkol Lake is covered only by silvery white salt crystals and salt crusts shimmering on the dried-up lake bottom. For this reason, the local Uygur people call it "Moonlight Lake". People are easily misled by the false appearances of the mirages and the "dry" surface of the lake and often get bogged down. Here one can not find fish in water or birds in the sky, only a hare or a field-mouse scurrying away. Attracted by its peculiar geographical characteristics and wilderness, a continuous stream of visitors from all over China and abroad come to the lake to sightsee, take pictures and explore.Aydingkol Lake is said to contain an amount of salt large enough to supply the one billion people of the country for a whole year. In addition, there are rich deposits of coal and oil under the lake. A chemical plant, the biggest enterprise in the Turpan area, has been set up by the lake side, which uses the crystal salt, vitriol and Glauber's salt as its raw materials and sells its products both at home and abroad.but now the lake has almost been dry because the agriculture water use and industrial water usa and also because of the glacier has receded because of the earth is getting warmer and warmer. To visit this lake that give you the environment education to protect the earth!

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