Ecological Environment of Middle and Lower Reaches of the Qarqan River Improved|2022 (Phase 3) CBCGDF Scientific Expedition to Lop Nur and its Surrounding Areas
2022/8/3 13:49:00 本站

On July 25th, the Lop Nur scientific expedition team composed of experts from the comprehensive hydrology team, the plant team and the geological environment team set off from Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Qinghai and other places to meet in Korla, Xinjiang. Organized by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) in 2022, the scientific expedition (Phase 3) to Lop Nur and surrounding areas was launched.

In 2020 and 2021, CBCGDF organized experts in the fields of ecology, hydrology, biology, soil, etc. to go deep into Lop Nur and its surrounding areas, where the experts inspected the three main supply rivers of Lop Nur, the Peacock River, the Tarim River and the Qarqan River Basin. A series of stage investigation results have been obtained on hydrological changes, the distribution of wild terrestrial animal and plant species, the distribution of aquatic organisms, and soil types and distribution characteristics, which have laid a solid foundation for later investigations and comprehensive analysis research.

The Qarqan River is an important part of the ecosphere of the Tarim River Basin. The Qarqan River has many tributaries and is recharged by high mountain ice and snow melt water as the main water source. The topography of the basin is complex, and the amount of water is usually small, even all seeping into the ground and finally converging in the Tula inter-mountain basin. In recent years, due to more water diversions in the middle reaches, there is a decrease in the amount of water in the lower reaches.

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On July 30, the hydrological team obtained the hydrological data of the cross-section at the bridge of Tatirang East 3 of the Qarqan River. According to the on-site estimation, the flow rate through the cross-section is about 10m3/s, which is smaller than the flow rate of the same period in previous years, further indicating the decrease of water coming from upstream.

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Since the warming and humidification of climate, the average annual precipitation, temperature and river runoff in the Qarqan River basin have shown a certain increase, and the quality of ecological environment has further improved. However, the two trends of improvement and deterioration of ecological environment quality coexist. Therefore, CBCGDF team conducted a comprehensive expedition in the middle and lower reaches of the Chechen River. The hydrological group carried out river velocimetry and hydrological surveys; the geoenvironmental group collected water samples; the plant group carried out sample surveys, expecting to further study the mechanism of climate change on the interconversion of surface water and groundwater and ecological environment changes in the Qarqan River basin.

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In general, the middle and lower reaches of the Qarqan River widen in bed and slowdown in flow. Many small gullies, depressions and ponds are formed around it, showing a typical river wetland type. With the shallow water table in this section, the plants such as reeds, red willows and buckthorn grow luxuriantly and a variety of water birds are found here, which indicate that ecological environment in the surroundings is on a positive trend.

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/srvPBPwyatEXhNsVs6WFqQ

Translator: Sara

Checked by: Lucy

Editor:       

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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