In the Hexi Corridor, where precipitation is severely insufficient and evaporation is extremely high, the snow and glaciers of the Qilian Mountains melt into water, leaving the embrace of the snow-capped mountains and flowing freely in the wide valleys between the mountains, with messy footwork like braids, and finally converges into the Heihe River, the second largest inland river in China after the Tarim River. After the Heihe River flows out of the Yingluo Gorge into the middle reaches, it irrigates the rich oasis of "Jinzhangye", but it crosses the Zhengyi Gorge and enters the 300-kilometer downstream of the desert through the quicksand, but it is far from people's field of vision. Because here, the Black River has a more resounding name - weak water.
The Oasis of Ejina, moistened by weak water
"Shangshu Yu Gong", "Water Jing Note" and other ancient books recorded: "Dayu leads the weak water to Heli, and the aftermath enters the quicksand." The weak water mentioned here is the lower reaches of the Heihe River, and Heli is the Heli Mountain in the east of the Zhengyi Gorge, which belongs to the Beishan Mountain System of the Hexi Corridor of the remaining veins of the Tianshan Mountains, and the highest peak is Daqing Mountain with an altitude of 2,084 meters; As for the quicksand, it is the Juyan Sea 300 kilometers away, located in the Ejina Banner of the Alxa League in Inner Mongolia, so the weak water is also called the Ejina River.
However, after the weak water flows north to the north of the Wolf's Heart Mountain, it is divided into two rivers, east and west, of which the river in the west is called the Muren River, which flows into Gashun Nuoer in the north, and the river in the east is called the Emuna River, which flows into Subonauer in the north. These two sister tail lakes are all relics lakes of the ancient Juyan Sea, which can be called "the twin walls of the desert".
Juyanhai in the early 30s of the 20th century.
If the Heihe River, which originates from the Bayi Glacier in the Qilian Mountains, collects 390 million cubic meters of water and feeds the upstream, a forest and grassland underneath, it flows to Zhangye and rests slowly, giving birth to the largest oasis in the Hexi Corridor on this wide alluvial fan in front of the mountain. Surrounded by wetlands, lush vegetation and developed agriculture, it is not only an important commercial grain base in the Hexi Corridor. It is also a natural ecological barrier to curb the southward encroachment of the Badain Jaran Desert into the Hexi Corridor.
Zhangye Oasis under the moisture of the Black River
As the geographical center of the Hexi Corridor, Zhangye Oasis is a gathering place of Eastern and Western civilizations, a lifeline of the ancient Silk Road, but also the most ecologically sensitive and vulnerable area. Because starting from Gaotai Zhengyi Gorge, Heihe is almost exhausted, and it leaves too much energy for the middle and upper reaches. So when the Heihe River was renamed Weak Water, the water volume dropped sharply, and the scenery on both sides of the river began to be monotonous and desolate from here.
Weak water rushing in the Badain Jaran Desert.
Therefore, in the lower reaches of the weak water, all the way to the north, a long strip of Ejina Oasis was left on the Badain Jaran Desert, barely relying on a small amount of water to maintain its vitality, and at the same time, it also separated the Badain Jaran Desert from the Horsehair Mountain Gobi, becoming an ecological barrier, leaving a smooth road for connecting the Mongolian Plateau and the Hexi Corridor. After all, in this extremely arid region, the average annual precipitation is less than 40 mm, but the evaporation is as high as more than 3,500 mm, and almost all surface water comes from weak water.
Although the weak water is 3,000, only one scoop can be taken to drink
Therefore, once there is a surge in industrial and agricultural water consumption in the upper and middle reaches of the Heihe River, after the reservoirs and dams hold back the river water, the weak water can only be cut off in the weakness, and the Ejina Oasis without water nourishment will fall into an existential crisis. When the oasis is accompanied by only dry riverbeds, the land becomes more arid and salinized, and the original reeds, poplars and dates are replaced by more drought-tolerant red willows and camel thorns, and the meadows gradually degrade, eventually becoming new deserts in the continuous dryness.
Weak water flows into the poplar forests of Ejinaqi, one of the three remaining poplar woodlands in the world.
And as the Black River or the tail of the weak water, Su Po Naoer and Gashun Nuoer are naturally not immune. This has already happened in the last century: in 1961 Gashunnaoer dried up completely, and in the 70s and 80s, Supannur also dried up many times, the fish in the lake suffered a catastrophe, the migratory birds that pass through here every year no longer stop here, and there are few other animals and plants that depend on the lake for survival.
What's worse is that even Populus euphratica, which can withstand the attack of the highest temperature of 45 °C and the lowest temperature of -40 °C, is not afraid of the saline alkali that invades the bone marrow, is not afraid of the overwhelming wind and sand, and the tree species with super adaptability will also die. Heishui City, 25 kilometers away from the east bank of the ancient weak water, as one of the most complete existing ruins on the ancient Silk Road, is a representative of the ancient Juyan oasis culture in history, and there is a strange forest not far from its southwest, full of dead poplars.
Legend has it that the Strange Grove was the place where Blackwater's soldiers died heroically defending the city, and it was their bones that turned into these tough branches and stumps. However, for Populus euphratica, the oldest few primitive tree species left over from 130 million years ago, its roots can go deep into more than 20 meters underground to obtain water, claiming to live for 3,000 years and not die, 3,000 years after death, and immortal after 3,000 years of falling..., but it is also powerless to resist the survival crisis caused by the weak water and the interruption of the flow.
The dry poplars of Ejina, these poplars are dead, but they are still standing.
One can imagine how important the weak water is for the Ejina Oasis! When you have the opportunity to come to the strange forest of Ejina Banner, looking at the mess in front of you, the fallen poplar trees on the sand, and the rotten wood, you will have a creepy and sad feeling, although these rotten wood stumps are not the bones of the fallen soldiers, but they are the bones of the poplar that have stood proudly in the desert for hundreds of millions of years, and the upright appearance seems to tell the people who come to tell the evil consequences of environmental degradation, and it seems to tell the infinite scenery that once existed here.
The weak water came, and Juyanhai was reborn
According to historical records, the weak water basin used to be rich in water and grass, and green fields were everywhere. For more than 1,000 years from the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, it nurtured the famous ancient Juyan oasis culture in history. In 121 B.C., when the champion Hou Huo went to the west of the river to go to the west of the country, he went directly through the Badain Jaran Desert, replenished in the Juyan Sea, and then went south along the Ejina Oasis along the weak water, and launched a blitzkrieg from behind the Hun evil king and the Hutu king.
In addition, we can get a glimpse of Blackwater's former glory from the collections of the Russian Museum. On April 1, 1908, an expedition led by Tsarist officer Kozlov discovered the "dead city of Harahot" in the Alxa Desert. When they entered the city gates, Blackwater City, which had been sleeping for hundreds of years, was awakened.
Ruins of Blackwater City
The Russians dug everywhere in the city, and soon unearthed more than 100 kilograms of cultural relics. After these cultural relics were immediately transported to St. Petersburg, the Russian Geographical Society judged that the dead city was of great value, and immediately ordered Kozlov to enter the city of Blackwater for a second time, so on May 23, 1909, the Russian expedition hired local people to excavate a large number of books, documents, Buddhist paintings and statues and various objects.
The unearthed Juyan Han Jian recorded in detail the information of the Han army's defense in Tuntian at that time, and was hailed as one of the "four major discoveries" in the Chinese archives in the 20th century.
Later, with the changes and destruction of the climate and environment, military, production and life, the weak water volume was unsustainable, and the Ejina Oasis was gradually filled by the desert and shrunk, and the city of Heishui was no longer prosperous. With the successful completion of the first phase of the conservation project in 2008, part of the walls of the Blackwater City site was able to regain the light of day after being buried in a hundred years of quicksand.
The better news is that with the scientific dispatch of the water volume of the Heihe River in 2002, the weak water once again flowed into Subonaoer, and the following year, Gashun Naoer, which had dried up for 42 years, also waited for the moisture of the weak water.
Sure enough, the famous saying of the Red Chamber "3,000 weak water, I only take one scoop to drink", for weak water, it is necessary to ask for a degree, and "one scoop" is enough.
Previous review: Heihe: China's second largest inland river after the Tarim River, and the mother river that nourishes Zhangye Jiuquan
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