The Evolvement of Lop Nur

Movement of Lop Nur (B)

The discussion on the location of Lop Nur occurred in 1980’s. When Sven·A·Hedin
explored the Lop Nur wasteland in 1900-1901, it had a specific boundary.

In 1992, the international academic conference of “20th century investigation and research of Western Region” held in Urumchi, Chinese geographer Xi Guojin referred his thesis named “the new discovery and historical process of Lop Nur moving” (“Western Regions Research” number 4, 1992). It was the newest one of his thesis and was a sum-up one. In 1981, he got the master degree in the thesis of “finding some pivotal lakes in the process of Lop Nur moving and some related questions”. He continued to complete “historical and geographical textual research on Maurya Sea” and “research on the satellite photo of geographical feature in Lop Nur” and so on. It narrated the viewpoint that Lop Nur was a typical moving lake. He discussed the moving rule of Lop Nur.

One of the bases to make a point that Lop Nur never moved was that the helix lines of Lop Nur area could be seen in the satellite photo. The helix lines were the marks of Lop Nur shrinking in the various periods. In “research on the satellite photo of geographical feature in Lop Nur”, Xi Guojin proved that the helix lines couldn’t have a long time of several thousand or several ten thousand years. It was obvious that which kind of bank could have a long time in this area with strong wind erosion and which kind of lake could be kept for a long time. Xi Guojin proved that the characteristic of Lop Nur was to move. Lop Nur was the end point of Tarim River and he listed 8 Lop Nurs with different location, including “Kroraina Lop Nur”, “Dun City Lop Nur”, “Yingsu—Alagan Lop Nur”, “Kalakushun”, “Lop Nur period”, “Taitema Lake”, “Lop Nur in late 1950s and early 1960s” and “Daxihaizi”. He thought that not only Lop Nur was moving but also the period became shorter and shorter.

In fact, after Sven·A·Hedin investigating Lop Nur in second time, the European geographers realized that the theory of “moving lake” was impossible. From 1900 to 1901, Sven·A·Hedin researched and demarcated widely and scientifically, and he used thousands of data to prove that there were the north and south depressions in the plain Lop Nur. He used the contour line to mark the place of the depressions. A new accurate meterage could reverse this theory. Through over 90 years testing, Lop Nur Expedition had the indispensable value. It was regretful that the two sides besides Xi Guojin didn’t collect evidence in this book. The other argumentations of “non-moving theory” were discussed within the common sense. For example, the altitude of Kalanusun Depression was higher than the altitude of Lop Nur and the movement couldn’t happen, because the water of Lop Nur couldn’t flow to Kalanusun Depression. It sounded reasonable, but it couldn’t come into existence. Because it continuously filled the aggradations of Tarim River, the hypsography of Kalanusun was high. Meanwhile, Lop Nur was eroded by the wind and the wind pricked up momently. The disparity of height was related to the age of them. And this was the reason that Sven·A·Hedin put forward the movement of Lop Nur. No one thought that the movement of lake water between Lop Nur and Kalakusun was spontaneous. The end point of Tarim River became Kalakusun from Lop Nur. The factor of river decided it. For example, Lop Nur and Kalakusun were within the helix line. They shrank but not move. People couldn’t help asking a question, now that the helix line was the site of ancient Lop Nur, it had been a long time that the residents lived in Lop Nur. Since the record of residents in Lop Nur had existed, the end point of Tarim River was divided into Lop Nur and Kalakusun. The distance of the attitude and latitude between Lop Nur and Kalakusun meant the movement. If the definitions of movement were the same, the discussion of Lop Nur’s movement couldn’t exist. The author of this article wanted to discuss the reason of Lop Nur’s movement.

At first, it must be emphasized. All who talk about the movement of Lop Nur noticed the Tarim River. In my viewpoint, the movement of Lop Nur couldn’t only depend on the Tarim River but also the Maurya River.

At present, the earliest and elaborate record of hydrology in Lop Nur was in the volume 2 of Shui Jin Zhu written by Li Daoyuan. The process of writing this book had been disputed. The lower limit of the content was not later than the 3rd year of Xiaochang Period in Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 527). Because of Jing or Zhu, the author was killed in A.D. 527. if the period recorded in Shui Jin Zhu was from 2nd century to 5th century, it was reasonable. According to volume 2nd of Shui Jin Zhu, there were three rivers in Lop Nur. One was Qiemo River and another was Nan River. The 3rd river was Zhubin River. The Qiemo River, which was called Cheerchen River, was near the origin of Lop Nur. The change of this river had been little form the ancient time to the modern time. Its flow could be compared with those of Tarim River or Maurya River. The Nan River was Tarim River. The Zhubin River was Kuruk River and Kuruk River was a section of lower reaches of Maurya River. The field survey could prove that the situation in Lop Nur had kept until its disappearance.

For a long time, people had taken care of Tarim River’s effect on Lop Nur’s hydrology. When they talked about the movement of Lop Nur, they didn’t take Maurya River into account. So the result was partial.

Maurya River was not a complete name and it was a “half river”. Kaidu River stemmed from the middle section of Tian Mountains, and it contained lots of fountain in Bayinbuluke. It flew out of Large Mountain Pass and Small Mountain Pass. It crossed Yanqi Plain and entered Bositeng Lake. The Bositeng was the headstream of Maurya River, and its end was Lop Nur, by way of Tiemen Barrier, Tashendian and Yuli reclamation area. So Bositeng Lake was the adjustor between Maurya River and Kaidu River. In spite of some branches of Tarim River entering it, Kuruk River and Kumu River were still the lower reaches of Maurya River. The movement of geographic circumstance in Lop Nur in historical periods written by Fan Zili showed the annual average water rate of flow. Of course, the data was measured in 1970’s and it had referenced value. They were:
Tarim River (Alaer Hydrology Station) 49.7 hundred million cube
Kaidu River (the average) 35 hundred million cube
Maurya River (Tiemen Barrier Hydrology Station) 11.5 hundred million cube
Cheerchen River (the average) 6.3 hundred million cube

The data showed the rate of flow of Tarim River became less. Because of developing the reclamation area in the middle reaches of Tarim River, the rate of flow was only 9.5 hundred million cube in Kala Hydrology Station. Compared with the data of Maurya River, the data of Alaer showed the veracity.

Seeing from the rate of flow, Cheerchen River didn’t have the strength to affecting the physiognomy. Analyzing the flow, the rate of flow of Maurya River couldn’t change the movement of Lop Nur. If change a way of calculation, regarding the rate of flow of Maurya River as the complete water system, the rate of flow of Kaidu River was less than the summation of evaporation of Bositeng Lake and the rate of flow of Maurya River. If there was no the horizontal Bositeng Lake, the rate of flow of Kaidu River and Maurya River must be another different situation. In Bositeng Lake And Its Future written by soviet scholars Kuziliezhuofu and Muzhaer, the annual summation of evaporation of Bositeng Lake in 1950’s was rough estimated 1.5 cubes per kilometer. But in 1970’s, the number was less. We could briefly think the annual rate of flow was 40 hundred million cube when Maurya River was connected with Kaidu River. The number was conservative. The annual average rate of flow of Maurya River and Tarim River was commensurate. But the question was whether Maurya River directly connected with Kaidu River nor flow into Bositeng Lake. Based on the research, the answer was positive.

According to the thesis in Scientific Investigation and Research of Lop Nur, Lop Nur was the eldest lake formed in Pliocene. The waterborne delta of Kroraina area had a long history of 20 or 30 thousand years. But Bositeng Lake was younger. After he researched the drilling rock in the silt of the lake bottom in 1957, the soviet engineer Jida mentioned that the age of Bositeng Lake was only 4000 years. In other words, when the Kroraina nationality settled down in the bank of Lop Nur, the Bositeng Lake just formed. In the long period that Lop Nur having been in Tarim area for several ten thousand years, the Bositeng Lake didn’t exist. According to the historical materials, as a large lake in Western Regions, Lop Nur had deeply affected the historical course. Although Bositeng Lake was famous, it was a swamp. So its name was Su, Zhu or Pu in Shui Jin Zhu. The Su meant the swamp with little water. The Zhu meant the small piece of land in waters. The Pu meant water surface. Around Shui Jin Zhu being completed, it was not a lake. 4000 years ago, Kaidu River and Maurya River was an end-to-end great river. Bositeng Lake was their headstream or end. During 4000 years of Bositeng Lake being formed, it had been insignificant for a long time. For example, at the end of last century, when Luobuluofusiji and Keziluofu investigated here, Kaidu River didn’t connect with Maurya by way of Bositeng Lake. Although the left branch of Kaidu River flew into Bositeng Lake, the right branch of it directly flew into Maurya in much time. In 1950’s, the Xinjiang Water Conservancy Office had drilled in the Tiemen Barrier section of Maurya River, and they found that there were 8-meter loose stones in the riverbed. People were surprised at this strange phenomenon. Because Maurya River flew from Bositeng Lake, it couldn’t bring out so many screes and gravels. The reasonable explanation was only one. Maurya River couldn’t flow from Bositeng Lake in numerous time of historical period. So it could bring so many gravels from Tian Mountains Valley. In other words, after Lop Nur was formed, the annual average rate of flow was approximately assorted with that of Tarim River. it was enough to control the movement of Lop Nur.

We didn’t adequately analyze the history of Bositeng Lake. According to the present knowledge, in Jiaqing Period of Qing Dynasty, Xu Song investigated it and measured it well and truly. The acreage and orientation of Bositeng Lake was recorded in the volume 2 of Record of Channel in Western Regions: “its length was 240 li and its width was 40 li. It was in location of longitude 28 degrees 30 minutes west to 29 degrees 59 minutes east.” The Bositeng Lake was in the flourishing period and it was a several-thousand-sq.km large lake. The water acreage of Bositeng Lake was 980 sq.km. If taking the swamp into account, the whole acreage was 1400 sq.km. Because its absolute depth was 16 meters and Kalakusun measured by Hedin was 2 or 3 meters, the cubage of Bositeng Lake was egregious. The total cubage was 10 sq.km. Bositeng Lake had been the large swamp in Western Regions since 19th century. At the same time, Lop Nur was in the process of drying up. Was it a coincidence?

It was a basic fact: Bositeng Lake was younger that Lop Nur. It hadn’t been the terminal lake of Kaidu River for a long time before it formed. It was still not the terminal lake after it formed, and it directly flew into Lop Nur by way of Maurya River. The movement of Lop Nur was affected by this fact. I didn’t want to debase Tarim River’s influence on Lop Nur. So I tied my best to mention another situation. In Traveling in the Desert Alone, Tarim River and Maurya River were compared to the father and mother of Kroraina. In fact, they were also the parents of Lop Nur. After mother gave birth to the little son—Bositeng Lake, the situation had changed. This was the internal reason of movement of Lop Nur. Of course, it was just imagery. Any imagery was not complete. For this reason, faraway Bositeng Lake caused the movement of Lop Nur on the Lop Nur Plain.

Seeing from this, the integrated comparison between Lop Nur and Bositeng Lake was necessary.

In the research on Bositeng Lake in 1980’s, some shells of death snails were found on the bank. But the snails didn’t grow up in the lake. It was obvious that the snails were the relics several years ago. On the Lop Nur Plain, the explorers found the shells. The picture PL.28 of Lop Nur Discovery was the picture of shells’ sample and gave clear indication that they were radish-shaped snail and cone-shaped snail. Issue On the Movement of Lop Nur written by Xia Xuncheng and Fan Zili mentioned the two kinds of snails. They were the same snail as that of Bositeng Lake. Any kind of snails was found in Alaer, Qiman, Donghetan, Changla and Daxizi in Tarim River valley. So there was some special relativity between Lop Nur and Bositeng.

It was recorded in Shan Hai Jing, “the water of Dunhuan entered swamp westwards.” The pronunciation of Dunhuan was close to that of Dunhuang. So they must have some relationship. All of us knew that the water of Dunhuan was Kaidu River—Maurya River. And the swamp meant Lop Nur. In the early stage of Qin Dynasty, before Shan Hai Jing being completed, people had known the relationship between them. On the precondition of making sure Lop Nur was the typical moving lake, we discovered the reason and rule of its movement; we could pay some attention to Maurya River and reduced the attention on Tarim River. If it could be proved, the effort was not an error and the author would be the greatest pleased.

Translated by Beijing Star-light Translation Center
Compiled by Historical Department of www.travel-silkroad.com
February 12th, 2001

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