Khar Lake (Khovd)

Khar Lake (Mongolian: Хар нуур, lit. "black lake"), is located in the Khovd aimag (province) in western Mongolia's Great Lakes Depression.

Khar Lake
The western shore of Khar Nuur
LocationGreat Lakes Depression, Western Mongolia
Coordinates48.08°N 93.2°E / 48.08; 93.2
Lake typeeutrophic
Primary inflowsChono Kharaikh Gol
Primary outflowsTeeliin Gol
Catchment area76,800 km2 (29,700 sq mi)[1]
Basin countriesMongolia, Russia[2]
Max. length37 km (23 mi)
Max. width24 km (15 mi)
Surface area575 km2 (222 sq mi)
Average depth4.2 m (14 ft)
Max. depth7 m (23 ft)
Water volume2.422 km3 (0.581 cu mi)
Residence time1.7 years
Surface elevation1,132.3 m (3,715 ft)
FrozenDecember - April

Name

It is also known as Ha-la Hu, Hara Nuur, Har Nuur, Khara Nur, Khar Nuur, and Ozero Kara-Nor[3]

It should be distinguished from the similarly named Khar Lake (Zavkhan), another lake further east in Mongolia.

Description

It is part of a group of lakes that were once part of a larger prehistoric lake that disappeared 5,000 years ago as the region became drier.

Some sources are using different Khar Lake statistics values:[4]

  • Water level: 1,134.08 m
  • Surface area: 565.2 km²
  • Average depth: 4.14 m
  • Volume: 2.34 km³.

Water Balance

Water balance of Khar Lake[4]
(Unit of water balance: mm/year)
Surface input Surface output Groundwater
inflow-
outflow
Retention
time
, years
Precipitation Inflow Evaporation Outflow
54.0 1,786.9 1,117.8 1,287.9 +564.8 1.7

Khar Lake has a single inflow - Chono Kharaikh Gol river, which creates a river delta.

Natural channel from Khar Lake to Dörgön Lake

Khar Lake has a connection to Dörgön Nuur south of it.

References

  1. includes 74,500 km² of Khar-Us Nuur lake catchment area
  2. Russian part of the catchment area belongs to the Khar-Us Nuur lake catchment area.
  3. Geody. "Ha-la Hu / Hara Nuur / Har Nuur / Khara Nur / Khar Nuur / Ozero Kara-Nor, Mongolia, Earth - Geody". www.geody.com. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  4. "Surface Water of Mongolia", Gombo Davaa, Dambaravjaa Oyunbaatar, Michiaki Sugita
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