Siling Lake

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title: "Siling Lake" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lakes-of-tibet", "xainza-county", "ramsar-sites-in-china", "saline-lakes-of-asia"] description: "Lake in Tibet" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siling_Lake" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Lake in Tibet ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox lake"]

Field	Value
name	Siling Lake / Selincuo
image	Siling Lake.jpg
alt	Aerial view of Siling Lake, showing its surroundings.
location	Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet, China
coords
pushpin_map	Tibet
basin_countries	China
area	1865 km2
elevation	4530 m
embedded	{{Designation list
embed	yes
designation1	Ramsar
designation1_offname	Tibet Selincuo Wetlands
designation1_date	8 January 2018
designation1_number	2352}}
::

| name = Siling Lake / Selincuo | image = Siling Lake.jpg | alt = Aerial view of Siling Lake, showing its surroundings. | caption = | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet, China | coords = | type = | pushpin_map = Tibet | inflow = | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = China | length = | width = | area = 1865 km2 | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = 4530 m | frozen = | islands = | sections = | cities = | embedded = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Ramsar | designation1_offname = Tibet Selincuo Wetlands | designation1_date = 8 January 2018 | designation1_number = 2352}} text ="Siling Lake" width =240 height =180 zoom =8 latitude =31.833333 longitude =89 / Siling Lake (; ) (also known as Qilin or Selincuo) is a salt lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China to the north of Xainza. Doijiang is located near the lake. Administratively it belongs to Xainza County and Baingoin County of the Nagqu.

Bangecuo is another nearby salt lake located east of Siling Lake, around four miles away.

Overview

The lake lies at an altitude of 4530 m. It is a salt lake. It is fed by the rivers Za'gya Zangbo (or Tsagya Tsangpo) (扎加藏布) and the Boques Tsangpo (波曲藏布). With an area of 1865 sqkm, Siling Co is the second largest saltwater lake in the northern Tibetan Plateau and forms part of the Xainza Nature Reserve. The 400,000 ha reserve was established in 1993 and contains significant populations of black-necked cranes and some 120 species of birds in total. The lake only has a single species of fish, Gymnocypris selincuoensis, exploited by fishermen. The prairie on the banks of the lake is traditionally used as grazing land for yaks and sheep.

The temperature at the lake is an annual average of -3 to -0.6 °C, the maximum annual temperature 9.4 °C. The average rainfall is 290 mm per year, 90 percent of which falls in the months of June to September, often in the summer as hail.

Climate

|metric first=y |single line=y |location = Siling Lake |Jan high C = -4.7 |Feb high C = -2.7 |Mar high C = 1.2 |Apr high C = 5.7 |May high C = 10.1 |Jun high C = 14.8 |Jul high C = 15.7 |Aug high C = 14.5 |Sep high C = 12.4 |Oct high C = 6.2 |Nov high C = 0.0 |Dec high C = -3.2 |Jan mean C = -11.9 |Feb mean C = -9.8 |Mar mean C = -5.9 |Apr mean C = -1.3 |May mean C = 3.1 |Jun mean C = 7.9 |Jul mean C = 9.6 |Aug mean C = 8.7 |Sep mean C = 6.3 |Oct mean C = -0.3 |Nov mean C = -7.0 |Dec mean C = -10.4 |year mean C = |Jan low C = -19.0 |Feb low C = -16.8 |Mar low C = -12.9 |Apr low C = -8.2 |May low C = -3.8 |Jun low C = 1.1 |Jul low C = 3.5 |Aug low C = 3.0 |Sep low C = 0.2 |Oct low C = -6.7 |Nov low C = -14.0 |Dec low C = -17.6 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 2 |Feb precipitation mm = 2 |Mar precipitation mm = 2 |Apr precipitation mm = 5 |May precipitation mm = 13 |Jun precipitation mm = 39 |Jul precipitation mm = 78 |Aug precipitation mm = 74 |Sep precipitation mm = 39 |Oct precipitation mm = 7 |Nov precipitation mm = 1 |Dec precipitation mm = 1 |source 1 = Climate-Data.org

References

References

1. "Tibet Selincuo Wetlands".
2. Meng, Kai and Shi, Xuhua and Wang, Erchie. (February 2011). "High-altitude salt lake elevation changes and glacial ablation in Central Tibet, 2000–2010". [[Science Bulletin.
3. (2015). "InSAR measurement of the deformation around Siling Co Lake: Inferences on the lower crust viscosity in central Tibet". American Geophysical Union (AGU).
4. (2000). "Mountain geoecology and sustainable development of the Tibetan Plateau". Springer.
5. 安才旦. (1 January 2003). "Tibet China: Travel Guide". 五洲传播出版社.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::