Bonus points: China's four major basins, what are each of the four major lakes, and where are they?
Sichuan Basin, Tarim Basin, Turpan Basin, and Junggar Basin.
The Sichuan Basin is surrounded by connected mountains and covers an area of approximately 160,000 square kilometers. The Sichuan Basin is home to the vast majority of the population of Sichuan and Chongqing. It is one of the most densely populated areas in China and the world, and is also the cradle of Bashu culture.
The Sichuan Basin is surrounded by connected mountains surrounding the basin, with Wushan Mountain to the east, Dalou Mountain and Daliang Mountain to the south, Qionglai Mountain and Minshan Mountain to the west, and Daba Mountain and Micang Mountain to the north.
Geographically, the Sichuan Basin is almost completely closed. In terms of drainage system, Sichuan water flows out from the Wu Gorge of the Yangtze River, which is also the only drainage channel in Sichuan.
Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu, once praised it as "a land of fertile fields and abundant natural resources".
The Tarim Basin is located in Xinjiang, northwest China, and is the largest inland basin in China. The basin is located between the Tianshan Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains and the Altun Mountains. It is 1,500 kilometers long from east to west and about 600 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of 530,000 square kilometers. The altitude is between 800 and 1,300 meters. The terrain is higher in the west and lower in the east. The central part of the basin is the famous Taklimakan Desert, and the edges are foothills, Gobi and oases ( floodplain).
The Qaidam Basin is located in the northwest of Qinghai Province, between the Altyn Mountains, Qilian Mountains and Kunlun Mountains. It is about 800 kilometers long from east to west, about 350 kilometers wide at its north-south point, and covers an area of about 200,000 square meters. Kilometers, the terrain slopes gently from northwest to southeast, with an altitude between 2,600 and 3,000 meters. It is the highest inland basin in China. The Qaidam Basin has a high altitude, few clouds, long sunshine hours, drought and little rain all year round, and strong winds often blow in the area. The most windy days in the Chaka area are more than 180 days a year, and the wind energy is very abundant. The terrain in the basin is flat, with sufficient surface water and groundwater available. The temperature difference between day and night is large, which is conducive to the accumulation of nutrients for crops, so the yield of crops there is higher.
The Junggar Basin is located in the northern part of Xinjiang. It is the second largest inland basin in China. It is between the Tianshan Mountains, the Altai Mountains and some mountains in the west. The basin is triangular in shape and is about 1100 meters long from east to west. kilometers, with a maximum width of 800 kilometers from north to south, and an area of 380,000 square kilometers. The terrain of the basin is higher in the east and lower in the west, with an altitude between 500 and 1,000 meters. The center is grassland and desert, and the edge is foothills and oases. The mountains in the western part of the Junggar Basin are parallel to the Altai Mountains. The Atlantic warm and humid airflow can enter the basin from the valley, so the precipitation is slightly more than that in the Tarim Basin, and the desert vegetation in the basin is better.
The Turpan Basin is located between Bogda Mountain and Jueluota Mountain in the southeast of the Tianshan Mountains. It is about 245 kilometers long from east to west, about 75 kilometers wide from north to south, and covers an area of 50,000 square kilometers. With an altitude of -155 meters, it is the lowest point in mainland China. Due to the towering mountains around the Turpan Basin, the interior of the basin heats up quickly but dissipates heat slowly, resulting in a hot and dry climate in summer. The evaporation is a hundred or even hundreds of times that of rainfall. Summer is extremely hot, with the highest temperature reaching 49.6°C. There are abundant ground water sources in the northern part of the basin. In order to reduce the evaporation of water, the local people built the famous "karez" to draw underground water out of the ground to irrigate crops. The Turpan Basin has long sunshine hours and a large temperature difference between day and night, so the melons and fruits produced there are very sweet and very popular among people. The most famous ones are cantaloupe and grapes. In addition, the basin also contains considerable oil and gas resources.
Taihu Lake:
In the southern part of Jiangsu Province, adjacent to Zhejiang Province, it is the third freshwater lake in my country. The lake surface is 3.33 meters above sea level, the deepest is 48 meters, and it covers an area of 2,338 square kilometers. Taihu Lake was called Zhenze and Juqu in ancient times, and was also called Lize and Five Lakes. It is formed by the sediment dams blocking the ancient bay in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Qiantang River. Taihu Lake finally flows into the Yangtze River. There are 48 large and small islands in the lake, together with the peaks and peninsulas along the lake, known as the "Seventy-two Peaks". Dongting Dongshan, Xishan, Majishan, Sanshan and Jingtou are the most famous ones, forming a magnificent natural picture of mountains outside the mountains, lakes within the lakes, mountains and mountains, and overlapping layers. Along the lake are the famous Wuxi landscapes, Suzhou gardens, ancient Wu monuments, and Yixing Cave World, forming the Taihu Lake Scenic Area, which is famous both at home and abroad. It is a national key scenic spot.
Poyang Lake:
Located on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River between Jiujiang and Nanchang in northern Jiangxi Province, it is 170 kilometers long from north to south, 70 kilometers wide at its widest point from east to west, and has a shoreline of 600 kilometers. The lake area is 3583 square kilometers. The lake is 21 meters above sea level, has an average water depth of 7 meters, and the deepest point is about 16 meters, with a water storage capacity of about 25 cubic kilometers. Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. Poyang Lake receives water from the five rivers of Gan, Fu, Xin, Rao and Xiu, and connects the Yangtze River, the largest river in my country, at the bottom. The amount of water flowing into the Yangtze River every year exceeds the total amount of water in the three rivers of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Hainan River. The water surface of Poyang Lake in Jiujiang is about 200,000 hectares. As the water volume changes, Poyang Lake rises and falls greatly, and has the function of naturally regulating water volume and storing floods. The basin includes six counties (districts) including Duchang, Hukou, Xingzi, Yongxiu, De'an and Lushan District. It is a pearl in northern Jiangxi.
Dongting Lake
The second largest freshwater lake in China. It is located in the northern part of Hunan Province, on the south bank of Jingjiang River, and its water surface spans Hunan and Hubei provinces. It is a faulted lake. The lake has an elevation of 33.5 meters and an area of 2,740 square kilometers. The water storage capacity is 17.8 billion cubic meters.
It is connected to the four rivers of Hunan, Zi, Yuan and Li to the south, and to the north is the main stream of the Yangtze River, Songzi, Taiping, Ouchi and Tiaoxian (the latter has been blocked and cut off in 1958). The lake water is discharged from Yueyang Chenglingji. Enter the Yangtze River. The average annual runoff of Hukou is 346.9 billion cubic meters. Dongting Lake is the most important water collection and flood storage basin in the Yangtze River Basin. It plays a great role in regulating floods and reduces peak flow by nearly 30%. For example, in 1954, the maximum flow into the lake was 69,000 cubic meters per second (July 31st), the maximum discharge out of the lake was only 42,000 cubic meters per second (August 2nd), reducing the threat of floods in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the flood season. Dongting Lake was originally known as the "Eight Hundred Miles of Dongting". Later, due to the long-term siltation of Sishui and Sikou, which carried a large amount of sediment, and the artificial reclamation of embankments, the lake surface shrank and the lake became shallower. In 1949, the lake area was still 4,360 square kilometers, but the current lake area has shrunk by more than 1/3 compared with that time, and is divided into East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake and West Dongting Lake by newly rising land. Dongting Lake has the largest water area, covering 1,091 square kilometers. Nowadays, 128 million cubic meters of sediment are carried into the lake by water flow every year. The area is shrinking year by year, and the function of regulating storage is also gradually decreasing.
Hongze Lake
Located in the west of Hongze County, Jiangsu Province, it developed on the alluvial plain in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River. It was originally a depression with poor drainage, and later became many small lakes. . In the Qin and Han Dynasties of our country, they were called "Fuling" lakes. Among them, Hongze Lake is the largest, covering an area of 2,069 square kilometers. It is the fourth largest freshwater lake among the five major freshwater lakes in my country.