The Sayram Lake

Sayram Lake is located in the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture between the Junggar Desert and the city of Ili. It is the largest and highest alpine lake in Xinjiang and about 20km long from east to west and about 30 km wide from north to south, occupying an area of 457suqare kilometers, with the holding capacity of 21 billion cubic meters, and 90.5 meters deep at the greatest depth. The lake surface is 2073 meters above the sea level. About 70 million years ago, during the period of organic movement of the Himalayas, this section of Tianshan Mountains sank in suddenly and the Sayram Lake, which is called by geologists the fault-trough lake, came into being. Sayram Lake is on the northern Silk Road, and by side of the lake and on the mid-lake island, Longwang Temple (Dragon King Temple), Hai Temple and others constructions once were built, but now they all have disappeared. The writers and poets through the centuries praised the lake by poets and literary works.