Da Qaidam
Da Qaidam
大柴旦 · ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠤᠨ · ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་ Tatsaitan | |
|---|---|
Administrative Zone | |
 Da Qaidam coach terminal | |
 Location of Da Qaidam (red) in Haixi Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai | |
  Da Qaidam Location of the seat in Qinghai | |
| Coordinates (Qaidam Town government): 37°50′57″N 95°21′41″E / 37.8491°N 95.3613°ECoordinates: 37°50′57″N 95°21′41″E / 37.8491°N 95.3613°E | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Qinghai |
| Autonomous prefecture | Haixi |
| Township-level divisions | 2 towns |
| County seat | |
| Elevation | 3,174 m (10,413 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Website | www |
| Da Qaidam | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 大柴旦 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Big Qaidam Greater Qaidam | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་ | ||||||||
| Mongolian name | |||||||||
| Mongolian script | ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠤᠨ | ||||||||
Da Qaidam is an in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern Qinghai province, China. It borders Gansu province to the north.
The area administered as Da Qaidam is divided between the two towns of (柴旦, itself also called Da Qaidam) (锡铁山). The former is the seat of Da Qaidam's administration. It lies at an altitude of 3,174 m (10,413 ft) above sea level.[1]
Name[]
Da Qaidam is a combination of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of 大 (dà), the Chinese word meaning "big" or "greater", and the Zangwen Pinyin romanization of the Tibetan name ཚྭ་འདམ (qaidam), meaning "salt marsh" and referencing the surrounding Qaidam Basin. The Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese transcription of Qaidam is "Cháidàn".
Geography[]
Da Qaidam borders Delingha to the east, Lenghu to the west, Golmud across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and Jiuquan (Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin.
Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than 350 metres (1,150 ft) higher than Golmud, its climate is also subalpine in nature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −13.4 °C (7.9 °F) in January and rises to 15.5 °C (60 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 1.88 °C (35.4 °F). Precipitation is very low, totaling only 83 mm (3.27 in) per annum, falling on 35 days, most of which are during the summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 65% in July to 82% in October, the area receives 3,257 hours of bright sunshine annually.
| Climate data for Da Qaidam (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −4.1 (24.6) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
4.6 (40.3) |
10.4 (50.7) |
15.8 (60.4) |
19.4 (66.9) |
21.8 (71.2) |
21.4 (70.5) |
16.4 (61.5) |
9.7 (49.5) |
2.6 (36.7) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
9.6 (49.3) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −21.1 (−6.0) |
−17.0 (1.4) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
1.2 (34.2) |
6.0 (42.8) |
8.8 (47.8) |
7.7 (45.9) |
2.0 (35.6) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−13.6 (7.5) |
−18.7 (−1.7) |
−5.6 (22.0) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.1 (0.08) |
1.9 (0.07) |
2.9 (0.11) |
2.3 (0.09) |
8.9 (0.35) |
21.4 (0.84) |
21.8 (0.86) |
14.4 (0.57) |
4.7 (0.19) |
0.8 (0.03) |
0.6 (0.02) |
1.2 (0.05) |
83.0 (3.27) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 5.8 | 7.5 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 34.7 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 44 | 35 | 30 | 27 | 30 | 37 | 40 | 37 | 34 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 35 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 233.8 | 225.9 | 267.7 | 290.2 | 315.3 | 293.0 | 293.2 | 297.7 | 278.2 | 285.4 | 246.4 | 230.6 | 3,257.4 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 77 | 75 | 73 | 74 | 72 | 67 | 65 | 71 | 75 | 82 | 81 | 78 | 74 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
Economy[]
As elsewhere in the Qaidam Basin, mining industries are of major importance in Da Qaidam. There is a lead mine in Xitieshan, the Xitieshan Lead Mine (锡铁山铅矿),[2] as well as a number of salt lakes where potash and related products are extracted.
Transportation[]
China National Highway 215 and China National Highway 315 pass through Da Qaidam and meet here. Yinmaxia railway station and Xitieshan railway station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are both located within Da Qaidam.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b 大柴旦地方志. Da Qaidam People's Government. 2008-05-13. Archived from the original on 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
- ^ At 37°19′00″N 95°34′00″E / 37.31667°N 95.56667°E.
External links[]
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- County-level divisions of Qinghai
- Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
- Northwestern China geography stubs