Coordinates: 40°10′N 90°35′E

Lop Nur
Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop
Lop Nur
Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin[1]) is a former
salt lake, now largely dried up, located between the Taklamakan and
Kumtag deserts in the southeastern portion of the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. Administratively, the lake is in Lop Nur town
(Chinese: 罗 布 泊 镇 ; pinyin: Luóbùpō zhèn), also known as
Luozhong (罗中; Luózhōng) of Ruoqiang County, which in its turn
is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.

The lake system into which the Tarim River and Shule River empty
is the last remnant of the historical post-glacial Tarim Lake, which
once covered more than 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) in the Tarim Satellite picture of the Basin of the former sea
Basin. Lop Nur is hydrologically endorheic— it is landbound and of Lop Nur; the concentric shorelines of the
there is no outlet. The lake measured 3,100 km2 (1,200 sq mi) in vanished lake are visible.
1928, but has dried up due to construction of dams which blocked
the flow of water feeding into the lake system, and only small
seasonal lakes and marshes may form. The dried-up Lop Nur Basin
is covered with a salt crust ranging from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in)
in thickness.

Lop Nur has been used as a nuclear testing site,[2] and since the
discovery of potash at the site in the mid-1990s it is also the location
of a large-scale mining operation.[3] Lop Nur

There are some restricted areas under military management and

cultural relics protection points in the region, which are not open to
the public.[4]
Location of Lop Nur within Xinjiang

Contents Chinese name

History Traditional Chinese 羅布泊
Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base
Simplified Chinese 罗布泊
Transportation
Transcriptions
Archaeological sites around Lop Nur
Loulan Standard Mandarin
Xiaohe Burial Site Hanyu Pinyin Luóbù Pō
Qäwrighul
Wade–Giles Lo2-pu4 P'o1
Miran
IPA [lwǒpû pʰwó]
Image gallery
Alternative Chinese name
See also
Footnotes Traditional Chinese 羅布淖爾
External links Simplified Chinese 罗布淖尔
 Transcriptions
History
Standard Mandarin
From around 1800 BC until the 9th century the lake supported a
Hanyu Pinyin Luóbù Nào'ěr
thriving Tocharian culture. Archaeologists have discovered the
buried remains of settlements, as well as several of the Tarim
Wade–Giles Lo2-pu4 Nao4-'erh3
mummies, along its ancient shoreline. Former water resources of the IPA [lwǒpû nâuàɚ]
Tarim River and Lop Nur nurtured the kingdom of Loulan since the Mongolian name
second century BC, an ancient civilization along the Silk Road,
Mongolian Cyrillic
which skirted the lake-filled basin. Loulan became a client-state of
Лоб Нуур
the Chinese empire in 55 BC, renamed Shanshan. Faxian went by
Uyghur name
the Lop Desert on his way to the Indus valley (395–414),[5]
followed by later Chinese pilgrims. Marco Polo in his travels passed Uyghur ‫ر‬
through the Lop Desert.[6] In the 19th century and early 20th Transcriptions
century, the explorers Ferdinand von Richthofen, Nikolai
Latin Yëziqi Lopnur
Przhevalsky, Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein visited and studied the
Yengi Yeziⱪ Lopnur
area.[7] It is also likely that Swedish soldier Johan Gustaf Renat had
visited the area when he was helping the Zunghars to produce maps Siril Yëziqi Лопнур
over the area in the eighteenth century.[8]

The lake was given various names in ancient Chinese

texts.[9] In Shiji it was called Yan Ze (鹽澤, literally Salt
Marsh), indicating its saline nature, near which was
located the ancient Loulan Kingdom.[10] 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,[11]
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.[11][12]

The lake was referred to as the "Wandering Lake" in the Map of Lop Nur by Folke Bergman, 1935. Kara-Koshun
early 20th century due to the Tarim River changing its where the terminal lake was found in 1867 is located to
course, causing its terminal lake to alter its location the south-west of Lop Nor, and the lake had shifted back
to Lop Nor by the time this map was drawn. Taitema Lake
between the Lop Nur dried basin, the Kara-Koshun dried
was a smaller transit lake and located to the west of Kara-
basin and the Taitema Lake basin.[13] This shift of the
Koshun.
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 fro 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.[14]

In 1921, due to human intervention, the terminal lake shifted its position back to Lop Nur. The lake measured 2400 km2 in area in
1930-31. In 1934 Sven Hedin[15] 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. In 1900 he had walked the dry Kuruk Darya
in a caravan. 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 Great West Sea Reservoir (Daxihaizi, 大西海子)
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.[13] 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.[16] The Taitema Lake however had shifted 30 to 40 kilometres
(19 to 25 mi) westwards during the past 40 years due in part to the spread of the desert.[17] 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.[18][19]

The Kara-Koshun dried basin may be considered part of the greater Lop Nur.[13]

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. 3 On June 1996, the Chinese explorer Yu Chunshun died while trying to walk
across Lop Nur.[20]

Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base

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, about
125 km (78 mi) northwest of Qinggir.[2] The first Chinese nuclear bomb test,
codenamed "596", occurred at Lop Nur in 1964. The PRC 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 and towers,
launching missiles, detonating weapons underground and in the atmosphere.[21]

In 2009, Jun Takada, a Japanese scientist known for prominently opposing the
tests as "the Devil's conduct", published the results of his computer simulation
which suggests - based on deaths from Soviet tests - that 190,000 people could
have died in China from nuclear-related illnesses.[22] Enver Tohti, an exiled pro-
Uyghur independence activist, claimed that cancer rates in the province of
Xinjiang were 30 to 35% higher than the national average.[23] 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
Mushroom cloud of the first Chinese
tests were suspected.[24] In 2012, China announced plans to spend $1 million to
nuclear weapon test, 596, at Lop Nur
clean up the Malan ( 马 兰 , Mǎlán) nuclear base in Lop Nor to create a red
in 1964
tourism site.[25]

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. After China signed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty in 1996, the camels were classified as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List.[26] Since the cessation of
nuclear testing at Lop Nur, human incursions into the area have caused a decline in the camel population.[26][27][28] Wild
Bactrian camels have been classified as critically endangered since 2002[26] 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.

Transportation
A highway from Hami to Lop Nur (Xinjiang Provincial Hwy 235) was completed in 2006.[29]
The Hami–Lop Nur Railway, which runs 374.83 km (232.91 mi) 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.[29]

Archaeological sites around Lop Nur

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 Indo-European origin.

Loulan
Loulan or Kroran was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city already known in the 2nd century BCE[1] on the
north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert. 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 Western Jin Dynasty (265–420).[14] 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.

Xiaohe Burial Site

The Xiaohe Tomb complex 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 Tomb complex contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which
have been violated by grave robbers.[30] 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.[31] Europoid Mask, from
Xiaohe Tombs complex
near Lop Nur, China,
Qäwrighul 2000-1000 BCE

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 2100-1500 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.[32]

Miran
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.

Image gallery

Basin of Lop Nur by Satellite picture of the Satellite image of a

satellite. Lop Desert with the basin potassium chloride
of the former sea Lop factory in Lop Nur.
Nur. In the left Kuruk-
tagh, in the right Astin-
tagh.

See also
Lop Desert
Tarim Basin
Tarim mummies
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Aral Sea
Ruoqiang Town
Charklik
List of nuclear weapons tests of China

Footnotes
1. Barber, Elizabeth (2000). The Mummies of Urümchi. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 125. "Two groups have laid
claim to nor, the second half of Lop Nor. Nor is Mongol for "lake" and occurs as part of many lake names in
Xinjiang and other parts of Central Asia, while nur is Uyghur for "bright" (as in the white of the salt flats). Mongol
probably wins this one. But lop is opaque in both languages and in Chinese too, a fact suggesting that the name
goes back to a time before Turks, Mongols, or Chinese had entered the territory."
2. "Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Base" (http://www.nti.org/facilities/710/). nti. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
3. "Lop Nur, Xinjiang, China" (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=51039). Earth Observatory. June
19, 2011.
4. 三问哈罗铁路 (http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_758fbe910101dv1z.html). Sina Weibo. 《新疆哈密广播电视
报》. 2012-12-06.
5. Fa-hsien, ca 337-ca 422; Legge, James (1886). 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 (http://archive.org/details/record
ofbuddhist00fahsuoft). Robarts - University of Toronto. Oxford Clarendon Press.
 6. J.M. Dent (1908), "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" (https://archive.org/stream/marcopolo00polouoft#page/98/mode/2up), The
travels of Marco Polo the Venetian, pp. 99–101
7. "The Wandering Lake" (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=6762).
nasa.gov. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
8. August Strindberg, "En svensk karta över Lop-nor och Tarimbäckenet" (in Swedish) (http://www.strindbergsmuse
et.se/verken/Tal/fejd6.html)
9. Zizhi Tongjian (https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%B3%87%E6%B2%BB%E9%80%9A%E9%91%91/%E5%8
D%B7019) 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).
10. Shiji (https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7123) 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.
11. Hanshu (https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7096%E4%B8%8A) 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).
12. Lou Yulie, ed. (2015-09-17). Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=jaOXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270&lpg=P
A270#v=onepage&q&f=false). Brill. p. 270. ISBN 9789047427971.
13. Zhao Songqiao and Xia Xuncheng (1984). "Evolution of the Lop Desert and the Lop Nor". The Geographical
Journal. 150 (3): 311–321. doi:10.2307/634326 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F634326). JSTOR 634326 (https://ww
w.jstor.org/stable/634326).
14. Makiko Onishi and Asanobu Kitamoto. "Hedin, the Man Who Solved the Mystery of the Wandering Lake: Lop Nor
and Lou-lan" (http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/06/index.html.en). Digital Silk Road.
15. Sven 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.
16. Liang Chao (2004-04-13). "Quenching thirst in Tarim Basin" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120510121711/http://
chinapage.com/river/tarim/news2004.html). China Daily. Archived from the original (http://www.chinapage.com/riv
er/tarim/news2004.html) on 2012-05-10.
17. "Desert Intrudes upon Tarim Lake" (http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/114336.htm). china.org.cn.
Retrieved 2007-08-03.
18. "Tarim River Ecological Protection Suggested" (http://www.china.org.cn/english/2005/Mar/121947.htm).
china.org.cn. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
19. "China Creates 'Man-made Oasis' Along Longest Inland River" (http://en.chinagate.cn/news/2007-09/15/content_
8888776.htm). Xinhua News Agency. Chinagate.com.cn. September 15, 2007.
20. "Found Dead - Yu Chunshun, 48, Intrepid Chinese explorer" (http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/96/0705/feat12.
html). asiaweek.com. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
21. Burrows and Fieldhouse, Andrew S. and Richard (1993). Nuclear Weapons Databook. Boulder: Westview Press.
p. 380.
22. Subhabrata Das (Apr 20, 2009). "China's nuclear tests allegedly caused 190k deaths" (http://digitaljournal.com/ar
ticle/271274). Digital Journal.
23. Zeeya Merali (July 8, 2009). "Did China's Nuclear Tests Kill Thousands and Doom Future Generations?" (https://
www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-chinas-nuclear-tests/). Scientific American. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
24. Jeffrey Lewis (April 3, 2009). "Subcritical Testing at Lop Nor" (http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/2239/sub
critical-testing-at-lop-nor). Arms Control Wonk.
25. "China to open ex-atomic site to tourists" (http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2012/10/17/China-to-op
en-ex-atomic-site-to-tourists/UPI-85691350470700/). Beijing: United Press International. 2012-10-17. Retrieved
2012-10-27.
26. Hare, J. (2008). "Camelus ferus" (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/63543/0). The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2008.rlts.t63543a12689285.en (https://doi.org/10.2305%2Fiucn.uk.2008.rlts.t63543
a12689285.en).
27. " 'New' camel lives on salty water" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1156212.stm). BBC. 6 February
2001.
28. "Wild Camel" (http://www.wildcamels.com/). Wild Camel Protection Foundation.
29. China starts building railway into "sea of death" (http://english.gov.cn/2010-03/04/content_1547778.htm) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20120229091955/http://english.gov.cn/2010-03/04/content_1547778.htm) 2012-02-
29 at the Wayback Machine, GOV.cn, Thursday, 4 March 2010
30. "Burial Site from the Bronze Age, Lop Nur, Xinjiang" (http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Archaeology/14949
6.htm#2). www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
31. "Silk Road Documentary Unearths Latest Findings" (http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Archaeology/16204
5.htm). china.org.cn. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
32. 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.

External links
Map of the Lop Nur nuclear test facility (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/facility/lop_nor.gif)
Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Base (http://www.nti.org/db/China/lopnur.htm)
DF-31 Tested on 10 June 1994 (https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/df-31/)
Lop Desert (https://web.archive.org/web/20071201164317/http://www.travel-silkroad.com/english/dongfanwenmin
g/history/lbbzm/lbb2.htm)
Surveying the Lop Nor (https://books.google.com/books?id=p0kEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=lop+de
sert&source=web&ots=SDwsjHtut_&sig=H5AcBtT3dyjO5yTDZeXD8Z1PPig#PPA153,M1)
Salt Fields in Former “Wandering” Lake Lop Nur, China - May 13th, 2009 - Earth Snapshot (http://www.eosnap.co
m/?p=6534)
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. [1] (https://web.archive.org/web/20110427172440/http://ww
w.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1741-7007-8-15.pdf)

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