What type of lake is Changbai Mountain Tianchi?

Changbai Mountain Tianchi in Jilin Province is a place with beautiful natural scenery. It is also the most complete Cenozoic multi-genetic composite volcano in China. Many people are interested in the type of lake of Changbai Mountain Tianchi. The details are as follows.

What type of lake is Changbai Mountain Tianchi?

Changbai Mountain Tianchi is a freshwater lake.

Lakes formed in volcanic craters are all freshwater lakes; the altitude is high, the evaporation is weak; the eastern part has more rainfall, and the water supply is abundant; the western part mainly relies on snowmelt as a water supply.

Geographical characteristics

Changbai Mountain Tianchi, also known as Baitoushan Tianchi, is located in the Changbai Mountain Nature Reserve in southeastern Jilin Province. It is a border lake between China and North Korea, with each side owning part of the water area. Changbai Mountain Tianchi is the most complete Cenozoic multi-genetic composite volcano in China. In 2000, Changbai Mountain Tianchi was announced by the Shanghai Great World Guinness Headquarters as the “highest volcanic lake in the world”.

Tianchi is about 4400 meters long from north to south and 3370 meters wide from east to west. The altitude of its water is 2189.1 meters, the deepest point is 373 meters, the average is 204 meters, the surface area is 9.82 square kilometers, and the circumference is 13.1 kilometers. The Changbai Mountain area belongs to the temperate continental mountain climate influenced by the monsoon. In addition to the general characteristics of mountain climate, there are obvious vertical climate changes. The general characteristics are: long and cold winters, short and cool summers, strong and dry springs, and foggy and cool autumns. The deepest point of Changbai Mountain Tianchi is 373 meters, the average is 204 meters, the surface area is 9.82 square kilometers, and the circumference is 13.1 kilometers. It is the deepest lake in China with a total water storage capacity of 2.04 billion cubic meters. At the same time, Changbai Mountain Tianchi is also the source of the Songhua River, the Yalu River, and the Tumen River, and is known as the “source of the three rivers”.

Formation

Before the Mesozoic Era, 200 million to 75 million years ago, Changbai Mountain had experienced many crustal changes, forming ancient rock formations. During the Mesozoic Era, after hundreds of millions of years of wind and rain erosion, a series of intermontane basins were formed. By the Cenozoic Era, it became a rolling undulating plain with scattered residual hills. With the Cenozoic Himalayan orogeny, accompanied by intermittent volcanic eruptions, the crust experienced a series of fractures, uplifts, and large amounts of magma erupted from the depths of the earth, forming basalt plateaus. Before the Quaternary Period, crustal movement entered a new period of activity. Volcanic activity became active, changing from the original fissure-type eruption to central-type eruption. The erupted lava and various debris accumulated on the lava plateau and plateau around the crater, building a huge volcanic cone with Tianchi as the main volcanic conduit.

Changbai Mountain Tianchi was formed by volcanic eruptions. The erupted magma cooled and accumulated, forming a basin. Over time, it became a lake with accumulated water. The shape of Changbai Mountain Tianchi is like a bowl, which is due to volcanic eruptions. In other words, Tianchi is more like the crater of a volcano.