Lop Nur

File:Map of the Lop Nor region by Folke Bergman 1935.jpg where the terminal lake was found in 1867 is located to the south-west of Lop Nor, and the lake had shifted back to Lop Nor by the time this map was drawn. Taitema Lake was a smaller transit lake and located to the west of Kara-Koshun.]]

From around 1800 BC until the 9th century the lake supported a thriving Tocharian culture. Archaeologists have discovered the buried remains of settlements, as well as several of the Tarim mummies, along its ancient shoreline. Former water resources of the Tarim River and Lop Nur nurtured the kingdom of Loulan since the second century BC, an ancient civilisation along the Silk Road, which skirted the lake-filled basin. Loulan became a client state of the Chinese empire in 55 BC, renamed Shanshan. Faxian went by the Lop Desert on his way to the Indus valley (395–414),{{cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/recordofbuddhist00fahsuoft |title=A record of Buddhistic kingdoms; being an account by the Chinese monk Fâ-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon, A.D. 399-414, in search of the Buddhist books of discipline. Translated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese text |author1=Fa-hsien |last2=Legge |first2=James |date=1886 |publisher=Oxford Clarendon Press |others=Robarts – University of Toronto}} followed by later Chinese pilgrims. Marco Polo in his travels passed through the Lop Desert.{{citation |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/marcopolo00polouoft#page/98/mode/2up |first=J. M. |last=Dent |title=The travels of Marco Polo the Venetian |chapter=Chapter 36: Of the Town of Lop Of the Desert in its Vicinity – And of the strange Noises heard by those who pass over the latter |year=1908 |pages=99–101}} In the 19th century and early 20th century, the explorers Ferdinand von Richthofen, Nikolai Przhevalsky, Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein visited and studied the area.{{cite web |url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=6762 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020416171410/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=6762 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-04-16 |title=The Wandering Lake |publisher=NASA |access-date=2007-08-03}} {{PD-notice}} It is also likely that Swedish soldier Johan Gustaf Renat had visited the area when he was helping the Zunghars to produce maps over the area in the eighteenth century.{{cite web |url=http://www.strindbergsmuseet.se/verken/Tal/fejd6.html |first=August |last=Strindberg |title=En svensk karta över Lop-nor och Tarimbäckenetb |language=sv |access-date=2007-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928081609/http://www.strindbergsmuseet.se/verken/Tal/fejd6.html |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead}}

The lake was given various names in ancient Chinese texts.[http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%B3%87%E6%B2%BB%E9%80%9A%E9%91%91/%E5%8D%B7019 Zizhi Tongjian] Original text: 蒲昌海，一名泑澤，亦名鹽澤，亦名輔日海，亦名穿蘭，亦名臨海，在沙州西南。Translation; Puchang Hai, another name is You Ze, also called Yan ze, Furi Hai, Chuan Lan, and Lin Hai. It is located to the south-west of Shazhou (Dunhuang). In Shiji it was called Yan Ze (鹽澤, literally Salt Marsh), indicating its saline nature, near which was located the ancient Loulan Kingdom.[http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7123 Shiji] Original text: 而樓蘭、姑師邑有城郭，臨鹽澤。Translation: The cities of Loulan and Gushi have walls; they lie near to Yan Ze. In Hanshu it was called Puchang Hai (蒲昌海, literally Sea of Abundant Reed) and was given a dimension of 300 to 400 li (roughly 120–160 km) in length and breadth,[http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7096%E4%B8%8A Hanshu] Original text: 蒲昌海，一名鹽澤者也，去玉門、陽關三百餘里，廣袤三四百里。其水亭居，冬夏不增減，皆以為潛行地下，南出於積石，為中國河雲. Translation: Puchang Hai, also named Yan Ze, lies over 300 li from the Yumen and Yangguan Pass, and is 300 to 400 li in length and breadth. Its waters are stagnant, and do not increase or decrease during the winter or summer. It is generally believed that the water flows hidden underground, emerges south at Jishi, and becomes the Chinese River (meaning Yellow River). indicating it was once a lake of great size. These early texts also mentioned the belief, mistaken as it turns out, that the lake joins the Yellow River at Jishi through an underground channel as the source of the river.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jaOXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 |title=Buddhism |editor=Lou Yulie |page=270 |isbn=9789047427971 |publisher=Brill |date=2015-09-17}}

The lake was referred to as the "Wandering Lake" in the early 20th century due to the Tarim River changing its course, causing its terminal lake to alter its location between the Lop Nur dried basin, the Kara-Koshun dried basin and the Taitema Lake basin.{{cite journal |author=Zhao Songqiao and Xia Xuncheng |title=Evolution of the Lop Desert and the Lop Nor |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=150 |issue=3 |pages=311–321 |year=1984 |doi=10.2307/634326 |jstor=634326 |bibcode=1984GeogJ.150..311S }} This shift of the terminal lake caused some confusion amongst the early explorers as to the exact location of Lop Nur. Imperial maps from the Qing dynasty showed Lop Nur to be located in similar position to the present Lop Nur dried basin, but the Russian geographer Nikolay Przhevalsky instead found the terminal lake at Kara-Koshun in 1867. Sven Hedin visited the area in 1900–1901 and suggested that the Tarim river periodically changed its course to and from between its southbound and northbound direction, resulting in a shift in the position of the terminal lake. The change in the course of the river, which resulted in Lop Nur drying up, was also suggested by Hedin as the reason why ancient settlements such as Loulan had perished.{{cite web |url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/06/index.html.en |title=Hedin, the Man Who Solved the Mystery of the Wandering Lake: Lop Nor and Lou-lan |author=Makiko Onishi and Asanobu Kitamoto |publisher=Digital Silk Road}}

In 1921, due to human intervention, the terminal lake shifted its position back to Lop Nur. The lake measured 2400 km² in area in 1930–1931. In 1934, Sven HedinSven Hedin, The Wandering lake, 1940. The river was also called the Kum Darya (Sand River). The Gizi map of Xinjiang calls it the Konche, which is probably a mistake. went down the new Kuruk Darya ("Dry River") in a canoe. He found the delta to be a maze of channels and the new lake so shallow that it was difficult to navigate even in a canoe. He had previously walked the dry Kuruk Darya in a caravan in 1900.

In 1952 the terminal lake then shifted to Taitema Lake when the Tarim River and Konque River were separated through human intervention, and Lop Nur dried out again by 1964. In 1972, the Daxihaizi Reservoir was built at Tikanlik, water supply to the lake was cut off, and all the lakes for the most part then dried out, with only small seasonal lakes forming in local depressions in Taitema. The loss of water to the lower Tarim River Valley also led to the deterioration and loss of poplar forests and tamarix shrubs that used to be extensively distributed along the lower Tarim River Valley forming the so-called "Green Corridor". In 2000, in an effort to prevent further deterioration of the ecosystem, water was diverted from Lake Bosten in an attempt to fill the Taitema Lake.{{cite news |url=http://www.chinapage.com/river/tarim/news2004.html |title=Quenching thirst in Tarim Basin |author=Liang Chao |work=China Daily |date=2004-04-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510121711/http://chinapage.com/river/tarim/news2004.html |archive-date=2012-05-10}} The Taitema Lake however had shifted {{convert|30|to|40|km}} westwards during the past 40 years due in part to the spread of the desert.{{cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/114336.htm |title=Desert Intrudes upon Tarim Lake |publisher=china.org.cn

|access-date=2007-08-03}} Another cause of the destabilization of the desert has been the cutting of poplars and willows for firewood; in response, a restoration project to reclaim the poplar forests was initiated.{{cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2005/Mar/121947.htm |title=Tarim River Ecological Protection Suggested |publisher=china.org.cn |access-date=2007-08-03}}{{cite news |url=http://en.chinagate.cn/news/2007-09/15/content_8888776.htm |title= China Creates 'Man-made Oasis' Along Longest Inland River |publisher=Xinhua News Agency |work=China DevelopmentGateway |date=September 15, 2007 }}

The Kara-Koshun dried basin may be considered part of the greater Lop Nur.

On 17 June 1980, Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu disappeared while walking into Lop Nur in search of water. His body was never found, and his disappearance remains a mystery. On 3 June 1996, the Chinese explorer Yu Chunshun died while trying to walk across Lop Nur.{{cite web |url=http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/96/0705/feat12.html |title=Found Dead – Yu Chunshun, 48, Intrepid Chinese explorer |publisher=asiaweek.com |access-date=2007-09-18}}{{coord|40|10|N|90|35|E|display=title}}

{{Further|China and weapons of mass destruction|List of nuclear weapons tests of China}}File:1965-01 1964年 首次原子弹爆炸3.jpg, at Lop Nur in 1964.]]

Lop Nur, situated in the arid Xinjiang region of China's far west, serves as an extensive military base. This location was selected for nuclear testing due to its desolate and isolated nature, devoid of any permanent inhabitants, though the broader Xinjiang region is home to the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has historically faced widespread detentions and stringent security measures in Xinjiang conflict. The Uyghurs have persistently voiced concerns regarding the health risks posed by the towering mushroom clouds and the release of radioactive fallout.{{cite news |last1=Broad |first1=William J. |last2=Buckley |first2=Chris |last3=Corum |first3=Jonathan |title=China Quietly Rebuilds Secretive Base for Nuclear Tests |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/20/science/china-nuclear-tests-lop-nur.html |access-date=22 December 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=20 December 2023}}

China established the Lop Nur Nuclear Test Base on 16 October 1959 with Soviet assistance in selection of the site, with its headquarters at Malan ({{lang|zh|马兰}}, Mǎlán), about {{convert|125|km}} northwest of Qinggir. The first Chinese nuclear bomb test, codenamed "Project 596", occurred at Lop Nur on 16 October 1964. China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on 17 June 1967. Until 1996, 45 nuclear tests were conducted. These nuclear tests were conducted by dropping bombs from aircraft, mounted on towers, launching missiles, detonating weapons underground and in the atmosphere.{{cite book |title=Nuclear Weapons Databook |last1=Burrows |last2=Fieldhouse |first1=Andrew S. |first2=Richard |location=Boulder |publisher=Westview Press |year=1993 |page=380}}

On 29 July 1996, China conducted its 45th and final nuclear test at Lop Nor, and issued a formal moratorium on nuclear testing the following day, although further subcritical tests were suspected.{{cite web |url=http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/2239/subcritical-testing-at-lop-nor |title=Subcritical Testing at Lop Nor |author=Jeffrey Lewis |publisher=Arms Control Wonk |date=2009-04-03|access-date=2012-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031150630/http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/2239/subcritical-testing-at-lop-nor |archive-date=2012-10-31 |url-status=dead}} In 2012, China announced plans to spend US$1 million to clean up the Malan nuclear base in Lop Nor to create a red tourism site.{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2012/10/17/China-to-open-ex-atomic-site-to-tourists/UPI-85691350470700/ |title=China to open ex-atomic site to tourists |date=2012-10-17 |access-date=2012-10-27 |publisher=United Press International |location=Beijing}}

In December 2023, a report emerged indicating that China was making preparations to resume nuclear tests in a remote desert. Satellite imagery provided evidence of these preparations, revealing the presence of a drilling rig that had created a deep vertical shaft. This shaft was believed to be designed to contain the destructive power of radiation resulting from large nuclear explosions.

Further analysis of the satellite images since 2017 also uncovered the development of new infrastructure at the site. This included the construction of new roads, power lines, an electrical substation, and a support area with multiple buildings. What was once a modest site with only a few buildings had transformed into a modern and sophisticated complex, complete with security fences. One of the new structures was a bunker that was fortified with earthen berms and lightning arresters, indicating its suitability for handling high explosives. Tests on miniaturization of missiles and warheads can also be possibly carried out at this site. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed the report and its "utterly irresponsible" claims. China has denied any nuclear testing plans on the site.

Lop Nur is home to the wild Bactrian camel, which is a separate species from the Bactrian camel. The camels have continued to breed naturally despite the nuclear testing. China signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 but did not ratify it.{{cite news|last=Borger|first=Julian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/16/china-may-have-conducted-low-level-nuclear-test-us-report-claims|title=China may have conducted low-level nuclear test, US report claims|date=2020-04-16|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-04-23|issn=0261-3077}} Subsequently, the camels were classified as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List.{{cite iucn|last1=Hare|first1=J.|title=Camelus ferus|doi=10.2305/iucn.uk.2008.rlts.t63543a12689285.en|year=2008}} Since the cessation of nuclear testing at Lop Nur, human incursions into the area have caused a decline in the camel population.{{cite news|title='New' camel lives on salty water|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1156212.stm|work=BBC News|date=6 February 2001}}{{cite web|url=http://www.wildcamels.com/|title=Wild Camel|publisher=Wild Camel Protection Foundation}} Wild Bactrian camels have been classified as critically endangered since 2002 and approximately half of the 1400 remaining wild Bactrian camels live on the former Lop Nur test base, which has been designated the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve.

A highway from Hami to Lop Nur (Xinjiang Provincial Highway 235) was completed in 2006.

The Hami–Lop Nur Railway, which runs {{convert|374.83|km}} north to Hami, along the same route, opened to freight operations in November 2012. The railway is used to transport potassium-rich salt mined at the lake to the Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway.[http://english.gov.cn/2010-03/04/content_1547778.htm China starts building railway into "sea of death"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229091955/http://english.gov.cn/2010-03/04/content_1547778.htm|date=2012-02-29}}, gov.cn, Thursday, 4 March 2010

It is also served by the Hotan–Ruoqiang railway, which loops around the south and west side of the Tarim Basin, part of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop, joined together with sections of the Golmud–Korla railway, Kashgar–Hotan railway, and Southern Xinjiang railway.{{cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3182031/new-railway-completes-2700km-loop-taklamakan-desert-move |title=New railway completes 2,700km loop of Taklamakan Desert in move to integrate Xinjiang with rest of China |website=South China Morning Post |date=17 June 2022 |first=Kate |last=Zhang }}

File:EuropoidMaskLopNurChina2000-1000BCE.jpg

Given the extreme dryness and resulting thin population, remains of some buildings survived for a significant period of time. When ancient graves - some a few thousand years old - were opened, the bodies were often found to be mummified and grave goods well preserved. The earliest sites are associated with an ancient people of indigenous Siberian origin."The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies", Zhang et al. 2021, Nature, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8580821/

{{Main|Loulan Kingdom}}

Loulan or Kroran was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city already known in the 2nd century BCE on the north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert.{{cn|date=October 2021}} It was renamed Shanshan after Chinese took control of the kingdom in 1st century BCE. It was abandoned some time in the seventh century. Its location was discovered by Sven Hedin in 1899, who excavated some houses and found a wooden Kharosthi tablet and many Chinese manuscripts from the Jin dynasty (266–420). Aurel Stein also excavated at the site in the beginning of the 20th century, while Chinese archaeologists explored the area in the latter part of the 20th century. A mummy called the Beauty of Loulan was found at a cemetery site on the bank of Töwän River.

The Xiaohe Cemetery is located to the west of Lop Nur. This Bronze Age burial site is an oblong sand dune, from which more than thirty well preserved mummies have been excavated. The entire Xiaohe Cemetery contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which have been violated by grave robbers.{{cite web|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Archaeology/149496.htm#2|title=Burial Site from the Bronze Age, Lop Nur, Xinjiang.|publisher=www.china.org.cn|access-date=2007-09-18}}

A local hunter guided the Swedish explorer and archeologist Folke Bergman to the site in 1934. An excavation project by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute began in October 2003. A total of 167 tombs have been dug up since the end of 2002 and excavations have revealed hundreds of smaller tombs built in layers, as well as other precious artifacts. In 2006, a valuable archeological finding was uncovered: a boat-shaped coffin wrapped in ox hide, containing the mummified body of a young woman.{{cite web|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Archaeology/162045.htm|title=Silk Road Documentary Unearths Latest Findings|publisher=china.org.cn|access-date=2007-09-18}}

{{Main|Qäwrighul culture}}

In 1979, some of the earliest of the Tarim mummies were discovered in burial sites at Qäwrighul (Gumugou), which is located to the west of Lop Nur, on the Könchi (Kongque) river. Forty-two graves, most of which dated from 2100 to 1500 BC, were found. There were two types of tomb at the site, belonging to two different time periods. The first type of burial featured shaft pit graves, some of which had poles at either end to mark east and west. Bodies were found extended, usually facing east, and sometimes were wrapped in wool weavings and wearing felt hats. Artifacts found included basketry, wheat grains, cattle and sheep/goat horns, bird bone necklaces and bracelets, nephrite beads, and fragments of copper (or bronze), although no pottery was discovered.

The second type of burial, from a later period, also consisted of shaft pit graves, surrounded by seven concentric circles of poles. Six male graves were found, in which the bodies were extended on their backs, and facing towards the east. Few artifacts were found, except for some traces of copper, or bronze.Kwang-tzuu Chen and Fredrik T. Hiebert (1995). "The Late Prehistory of Xinjiang in Relation to Its Neighbors". Journal of World Prehistory 9 (2): 243–300.

{{Main|Miran (Xinjiang)}}

Miran is located to the south-west of Lop Nur. Buddhist monasteries were excavated here, and murals and sculptures showed artistic influences from India and Central Asia, with some showing influences from as far as Rome.

• Aral Sea
• Charklik (ancient settlement)
• List of nuclear weapons tests of China
• Ruoqiang Town
• Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
• Tarim Basin
• Tarim mummies

{{Reflist|35em}}

{{Commons|Lop Nur}}

• [http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/facility/lop_nor.gif Map of the Lop Nur nuclear test facility]
• [http://www.nti.org/db/China/lopnur.htm Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Base]
• [https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/df-31/ DF-31 Tested on 10 June 1994]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071201164317/http://www.travel-silkroad.com/english/dongfanwenming/history/lbbzm/lbb2.htm Lop Desert]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=p0kEAAAAYAAJ&dq=lop+desert&pg=PA153 Surveying the Lop Nor]
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Lop-nor | volume= 16 |last= Bealby |first=John Thomas | page = 991 |short=1}}
• [http://www.eosnap.com/?p=6534 Salt Fields in Former “Wandering” Lake Lop Nur, China – May 13, 2009 – Earth Snapshot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607022229/http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/salt-fields-in-former-wandering-lake-lop-nur-china/ |date=7 June 2020 }}
• Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110427172440/http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1741-7007-8-15.pdf]

{{Lakes of China}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Endorheic lakes of Asia

Category:Chinese nuclear test sites

Category:Sites along the Silk Road

Category:Shrunken lakes

Category:Lakes of Xinjiang

Category:Ruoqiang County

Category:Tarim mummies

Category:Former lakes of Asia