Koko Nor (redirected from Kuku Nor)

Koko Nor, salt lake, China: see Qinghai Hu.

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Koko Nor

 Chinese Qinghai Hu or Ch'ing-hai Hu

Lake, Qinghai province, China. The largest drainless mountain lake of Central Asia, it is 65 mi (105 km) long and 40 mi (64 km) wide; its surface area fluctuates seasonally between 1,600 and 2,300 sq mi (4,200 and 6,000 sq km). It is located in the Nan Mountains (Nan Shan) at an elevation of 10,515 ft (3,205 m). Formed by melting glaciers during the Late Pleistocene Epoch, the lake today receives the waters of some two dozen rivers and streams.

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Koko Nor, Kuku Nor

a lake in W China, in Qinghai province in the NE Tibetan Highlands at an altitude of about 3000 m (10 000 ft.): the largest lake in China. Area: about 4100 sq. km (1600 sq. miles)

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Koko Nor 

a mountain range in China; part of the Nan Shan. In the southwest it borders the Koko Nor Plain. Length, more than 300 km; altitude, to 4,120 m. It is composed mostly of granites and other crystalline rock. In the central part it forms a narrow, high mountain chain with neve and small glaciers. In the west and east the range drops sharply, acquiring a mid-mountain, ridgy appearance. Arid steppe landscapes with areas of pea shrub prevail.

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Koko Nor 

(Mongolian, “blue lake”), or Chinghai or Tsinghai, the largest mountain lake without an outlet in Central Asia; located in China. Length, about 105 km; maximum width, 65 km; area, approximately 4,200 sq km, maximum known depth, 38 m.

Lying at an altitude of 3,205 m, the lake occupies the central part of the Koko Nor Plain. The shoreline has few indentations; ancient lake-shore terraces are well developed (up to 50 m in elevation). The botton is composed chiefly of silts. There are several sand islands. A total of 23 rivers flow into Koko Nor, with the largest of them being the Buhain Gol, which forms a delta that empties into the lake on the west. The summer high water on the rivers causes seasonal fluctuations in the lake’s level. In the summer the water warms to 18°−20°C, and from November through March the lake is frozen. Water mineralization during the dry periods reaches 11.3 g per liter. Fish are found in the lake, chiefly of the Cyprinidae family. The first European who studied Koko Nor was N. M. Przheval’skii (in 1872).