Khar-Us Lake (Mongolian: Хар-Ус нуур, romanized: Har-Us nuur; ᠬᠠᠷ᠎ᠠᠤᠰᠤᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ, "Black-Aqua Lake", Chinese: 哈尔乌斯湖, 黑水湖) is a lake in western Mongolia in the Great Lakes Depression. It is the upper one in a system of the interconnected lakes: Khar-Us, Khar, Dörgön, Airag and Khyargas. The lake is located in Har Us Nuur National Park.

Khar-Us Lake
Khar-Us Lake frozen, Khar Lake fragment is at the western edge of the image, Jargalant-Khaikhan Mounts are south from Lake Khar-Us (NASA astronauts image 2002-12-13).
Khar-Us Lake is located in Mongolia
Khar-Us Lake
Khar-Us Lake
LocationKhovd aimag, Mongolia
Coordinates48°02′N 92°17′E / 48.033°N 92.283°E / 48.033; 92.283
Typefreshwater
Primary inflowsKhovd River
Primary outflowsChono Kharaikh gol
Catchment area74,500 km2 (28,800 sq mi)
Basin countriesMongolia
Max. length72.2 km (44.9 mi)
Max. width36.5 km (22.7 mi)
Surface area1,578 km2 (609 sq mi)
Average depth2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Max. depth4.5 m (15 ft)
Water volume3.432 km3 (2,782,000 acre⋅ft)
Surface elevation1,156.7 m (3,795 ft)
FrozenNovember - April
IslandsAgbash (Ak-Bashi)
SettlementsDörgön
Designated13 April 1999
Part ofHar Us Nuur National Park

Its area value (1,852 km2) includes the island Agbash (or Ak-Bashi, white head) area (274 km2), so the water surface area is 1,578 km2 only.[1]

Some sources are using different Khar-Us Lake Lake statistics values:[2]

  • Water level: 1,160.08 m
  • Surface area: 1,496.6 km2
  • Average depth: 2.1 m
  • Volume: 3.12 km³.
Water balance of Khar-Us Lake[2]
(Unit of water balance: mm/year)
Surface input Surface output Groundwater
inflow-
outflow
Retention
time
, years
Precipitation Inflow Evaporation Outflow
56.4 1,979.2 942.7 675.3 -417.6 1.1

Primary inflow is the Khovd River, which creates a large river delta.

So called Genghis Khan's wall runs along the western shore of the Khar-Us Lake. It is possible to find it at the Google Map and Google Earth satellite maps 47°53′29″N 91°59′37″E / 47.89139°N 91.99361°E / 47.89139; 91.99361.

References edit