Loulan was a small country in the ancient Western Regions of China, and it was also in the Western Regions for a time in history. The birth of the Loulan civilization, like the Yellow River and Yangtze River civilizations, grew up with the support of huge water sources, and Lop Nur is the source of life on which Loulan is famous.
Tips: Loulan is a relic of the ancient city of Xiyu. First seen in the "History", once a necessary place for the Silk Road, only remains, located in the northern part of Ruoqiang County, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, northwest corner of Lop Nur and 7 kilometers south of the Peacock River.
Lop Nur is a lake located in the Xinjiang region, which was abundant in water and grass during the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the water network was dense, which was very magnificent. However, at some point, it slowly disappeared in front of people's eyes, and even the brilliant Loulan civilization mysteriously disappeared. It has changed from the cradle of life to the forbidden area of life, and it is a "sea of death" that is difficult for human beings to step on.
The mysterious Lop Nur attracted countless explorers to venture, our scholar Peng Jiamu mysteriously disappeared on the way to find Lop Nur, some people said that he crossed back to the Han Dynasty, the "crosser" Wang Mang is him, and some people say that he was buried under the wind and sand, this bizarre event undoubtedly cast a mysterious and dangerous veil on Lop Nur and made people love and fear.
Tips: From 1964 to 1980, Peng Jiamu went to Xinjiang 15 times for scientific investigations, and 3 times into Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture Lop Nur for exploration, pouring his heart and soul into pioneering frontier scientific research and doing a lot of work for the development of plant virus research in China.
Today, people have found from the satellite that the dried up Lop Nur has been "resurrected", the dried skin has gradually become moist and plump, and the sea of death has become turquoise, which is surprising. After the surprise, people can't help but think of a question, where does this water come from? How did it suddenly appear?
The mysterious Lop Nur
Lop Nur is located in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the arid saltwater lake east of the Tarim Basin and north of Ruoqiang County is also an inland lake. Our country's observation of Lop Nur has a long history, recording the name of Lop Nur in different historical periods. The earliest name of Lop Nur was Youze (泑泽), which appeared many times in the geographical masterpiece "Shan Hai Jing Xi Shan Jing".
Tips: The Mongolian transliteration of Robnur, meaning lake of many waters, is located at an altitude of about 780 meters above sea level, located at the lowest point in the eastern tarim basin, the easternmost edge of the Taklamakan Desert, the northern part of Ruoqiang County, and the southeastern part of Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.
The book records: "Looking east at The Water, where the river is submerged", Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty notes: "泑, the water color is black also", so the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is named "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is named "The Water is blackened by the color of the lake. The Classic of Mountains and Seas was written around the time of the Warring States period, which means that during the Warring States period, people could name Lop Nur from the color of the lake.
The historical records compiled by Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty were renamed Lop Nur as "Yanze". "The Tale of Dawan": "In the west of Khotan, the water flows westward, flowing into the west sea, and its eastern water flows eastward, injecting salt", yanze, that is, the meaning of salt water lake. The Chronicle of Dawan was written during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when people named it according to the nature of the lake and the color of the lake during the Warring States period, indicating that people had a deeper understanding of Lop Nur.
Tips: The content of the Classic of Mountains and Seas is mainly the geographical knowledge of folklore, including ethnic groups, products, medicines, sacrifices, witch doctors, etc. It has preserved many ancient myths, legends and fables, including the daily life of the father of the Kwa, the reclamation of jingwei, the rule of water in Day, and the rule of water in Dayu.
The Book of Han refers to Lop Nur as "Pu Chang Hai", and the Records of the Western Regions states: "Khotan is under the South Mountain, and its northern river flows with the Onion Ridge, and a piece of Pu Chang Sea is injected into the east." Pu Changhai, a Shiozawa also". During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classics still refers to Lop Nur as 泑泽 or Pu Haichang. The North River "is also east of The South of Lancheng, and east of the River, which is also the so-called Puchang Seawater." ”
Call another new lake the Prison Sea. The Chronicle of The Lands edited by Li Tai, the king of wei in the early Tang Dynasty, conflated the titles of Gao Lanhai and Pu Changhai. Words: "Pu Changhai, a Shuze, a Yanze, also known as Fu ri hai, also known as The Prison LanHai, also known as Linhai, in the southwest of Shazhou." The Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" calls Loulan "Na Jiao Bo", and Lop Nur is also called Na Jiao Bo.
Tips: Xuanzang (602-664), a senior monk of the Tang Dynasty, one of the four major Buddhist translators of Chinese Buddhism, and the founder of the Wisdom Sect of Chinese Chinese Buddhism.
In 1907, the British explorer Stein found Tibetan fragments of "Great Naboo City" and "Little Naboo City" at the site of Milan. He agrees with Xuanzang's Loulan as a record of Nazaobo, and believes that this name is the name of Loulan in the middle and modern worlds. The name comes from the Tibetan transliteration, Lop Nur from the original "NOB", later N to L, pronounced "LOP", in the early Ming Dynasty Marco Polo passed through the area, has been called "Luo Bu".
The Qing Dynasty geographer Xu Song believed: "Rob Naur, The Hui Luobu, is called the area of the catchment", and some scholars believe that "the Mongolian language is Known as Rob Naoer." Nao'er, Yan Ju Mizusawa, And Rob Nai followed the sound of Xuanzang Na Binding Wave. ”
Tips: Potala Palace is the highest altitude in the world and the largest and most complete ancient palace and fortress complex in Tibet. The Potala Palace is the essence of the ancient architecture of the Chinese nation, and is the landscape pattern on the back of the fifth set of RMB 50 banknotes.
From the above records, it can be seen that the name of Lop Nur is a literal translation of the languages of ethnic minorities such as Hui and Mongolian.
History of Lop Nur
Lop Nur was born at the end of the Third Age and the beginning of the Quaternary Period, and the frequent orogeny at the end of the third episode was an important reason for its birth. Ancient Lop Nur, 18 million years old, initially covered an area of 20,000 square kilometers, but under the influence of the Quaternary neo-tectonic movement, the Hu Basin was raised from south to north in an oblique shape, and the entire great lake was split into several depressions. In 1958, after the engineering team surveyed, it was found that the area of Lop Nur had reached 5350 square kilometers, which was the second largest lake in China.
Tips: The main symbol of Hui costume is at the head. Men love to wear white round hats. Hui women often wear hijabs. Elderly Hui women wear black or brown headscarves in winter and white gauze in summer, and have the habit of tying trouser legs.
Because the dried-up satellite images of Lop Nur look like the shape of a human ear, it is also called the "Ear of the Earth". Bordered by the Tarim, Peacock and Chechen Rivers to the west, and the Shule River to the east, Lop Nur is a paradise in the western region, shining pearl. Lop Nur nurtured the people of the Western Regions and gave birth to the Loulan Kingdom, which had a large population and strong national strength. According to historical records, Loulan was founded before 176 BC, which lasted for more than 800 years and mysteriously disappeared in the early Tang Dynasty around 630 AD.
In 126 BC, Zhang Qian was ordered to go on an envoy to the Western Regions, passing through Loulan, and found that the geographical location here was very superior, so after returning to the Han Dynasty, he suggested to Emperor Wu of Han: "Loulan, Shiyi has a city, Linyanze." Since then, Loulan has become the throat gateway to the south of the Silk Road. The Lop Nur area, which has a vast water area of 300 miles and does not decrease in winter and spring, is speculated to be the upper source of the Yellow River. It was not until the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty sent Amitabha Buddha to Qinghai and Xinjiang to investigate the source of the Yellow River that this statement was changed, correcting that the water source of Lop Nur came from rivers such as the Tarim River and the Peacock River.
Tips: Tarim River, with a drainage basin of 1.02 million square kilometers. With a total length of 2179 kilometers, there are 2327 and 1321, and if the longest tributary, the Hotan River, is 2376 kilometers long, making it the longest inland river in China and the fifth largest inland river in the world.
It is reported that after the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the diversion of the riverfront in the middle reaches of the Tarim River, the amount of water in Lop Nur decreased, triggering the water shortage crisis in Loulan. After that, the Loulan people gathered a total of 4,000 people from Dunhuang, Shanshan, Yanqi and Guizi, and cut off the Zhubin River day and night, introducing water into Loulan and alleviating the dilemma of water shortage in Loulan. Since then, due to environmental influences and river diversions, the amount of water in Lop Nur has become less and less. In order to survive, the Loulan people had to leave their homeland to find a new home, and the once dazzling ancient country of Loulan also disappeared. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, when the water rose in Lop Nur, it was only a few hundred square kilometers.
The first researcher in China to carry out archaeological work in Lop Nur was Mr. Huang Wenbi. In the 1930s, he came here twice to conduct fieldwork and excavation work, and he found more than seventy Han Jian around Lop Nur, four of which were from the Western Han Dynasty, so he named the place "Tuyan". Later, the Swedish archaeologist Förk Bergmann discovered the ancient tombs of the Loulan people in 1934.
Tips: Han Jian refers to the Jian Mu left over from the Two Han Dynasties in China. As early as the Northern Zhou Dynasty, people found hanzhu jianshu in the Juyan area, and the Northern Song dynasty people also obtained the Eastern Han Jian in present-day Gansu and other places.
In 1921, the Tarim River diverted its course to the east and flowed directly into Lop Nur to improve the gradual drying up of Lop Nur . In 1931, the area of Lop Nur was 1,900 square kilometers. In 1941, the area was 3006 square kilometers. In 1958, Lop Nur reached its maximum area of 5,350 square kilometers. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to guard against foreign enemies and help Xinjiang build, a large number of people came to both sides of the Tarim River, resulting in a shortage of water in the Tarim River. Over the decades, more than 130 reservoirs were built, drying up the lower Tarim River. In 1962, the lower reaches of the Tarim River stopped flowing, and Lop Nur dried up with it.
After Lop Nur dried up, the surrounding plants were irrigated with no water source, and the ecological environment deteriorated rapidly. Almost all the herbaceous plants dried up, causing desertification to be severe, and within a few years Lop Nur had merged with the Taklamakan Desert, regardless of each other, becoming a new generation of "human forbidden areas", causing what was once a lake, so it was also called the "Sea of Death".
Tips: Dry means that rivers, ponds, etc. are dry and waterless. After Lop Nur dried up, the surrounding ecological environment changed immediately, and all the herbs died.
In 1980, when Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu was conducting a scientific expedition here, he disappeared due to search for water sources, and his body has not been found so far, which has aroused controversy among everyone.
The mystery of Lop Nur wandering
The Loulan civilization born in Lop Nur has attracted Chinese and foreign scholars to come and study. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Italian Marco Polo, the Qing Dynasty Russian explorer Przewalski, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, China's Mr. Huang Wenbi, Peng Jiamu and others have come here to study, in order to find the mysterious disappearance of the ancient country of Loulan and the mystery of the migration of Lop Nur. They tried to explain it in terms of geography, climate, archaeology, etc.
Tips: Loulan Ancient Kingdom, is a small country on the ancient Silk Road, located in the west of Lop Nur, at the hub of the western region, the scope of the kingdom from the east near Guyangguan, west to the ancient city of Niya, south to arjin mountain, north to Hami.
In 1876, Przewalski, from Ili, crossed the Tianshan Mountains, walked southeast along the lower reaches of the Tarim River, and found Karablan and Karakushun Lake sixty miles from Artentag. At that time, the Tarim River flowed into the Karakushun Lake, he tasted the lake water and found that it was light, and then compared the actual map he drew with the Qing Dynasty map, found that there was a whole latitude difference between the two, so he accused the Qing Dynasty map of error, and announced to the academic community that he had found the "real" Lop Nur.
After announcing the discovery to the outside world, he received some support, but Richthofen, then president of the German Geographical Society, objected. He published an article in the Berlin Geographical Magazine saying: According to the "Unified Map of the Great Qing Dynasty" published by China in 1836, the real Lop Nur should be at 40 degrees and forty degrees north latitude. And the Tarim River is flowing east into Lop Nur rather than south, so the lake he found was recently formed. In addition, Lop Nur is a saltwater lake, and the water is salty rather than light.
Tips: The Caspian Sea is the largest saltwater lake in the world, located at the inland junction of Europe and Asia, the Caspian Sea has an ecosystem similar to the ocean, and the maritime industry is well developed.
After Richthofen's article was published, his student Swede Sven Hedin decided to come to Lop Nur for a field trip in support of his supervisor's thesis. In 1896 and 1900, he visited the lower Tarim River twice, found the location of Lop Nur as his supervisor's thesis, and also proposed a theory about the wandering of Lop Nur.
In the 21st century, Chinese scientists have confirmed through field investigations and satellite observations that Lop Nur belongs to the depression area of the eastern section of the Tarim Basin, so there will be no reverse flow phenomenon in Lop Nur.
Tips: Satellites refer to natural celestial bodies that orbit a planet and orbit periodically in a closed orbit, and artificial satellites can also be called satellites.
Carbon XIV determination of sediments at the bottom of Lake Lop Nur proves that Lop Nur is the center of water flow in the Tarim Basin, where water from many rivers is collected. Thus, the wandering theory is rejected.
Lop Nur "resurrected"?
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to human reasons, Lop Nur cut off the flow and became a barren Gobi, a silent sea of death. No living creature could escape his scythe, just like Sun Wukong could never turn over rulai's palm. Looking at the wreckage of a place, death is the master here. We regret the beautiful scenery of the fishing songs and evening songs and the flat boats, and lament the difficulty of survival.
Tips: Carbon 14 is produced by hitting nitrogen fourteen atoms in the air through cosmic rays, with a half-life of about 5,730 years, decaying in the form of β decay, and carbon 14 atoms are converted into nitrogen atoms.
In our impression, Lop Nur always seems to be a desolate Gobi with a blazing sun shining high and yellow sand everywhere, but recently satellites have shown that Lop Nur has water, and it is gradually "resurrecting". It turned out that these water sources came from the potash mines in the north of Lop Nur . Lop Nur is a saltwater lake, the water contains salt, tens of thousands of years of accumulation, the formation of a huge potash mine. It is estimated that the amount of potash stored in the Lop Nur area is as high as 250 million tons, making it the second largest potash mine in China.
The potassium element in the potassium salt is one of the necessary elements to maintain human life activities and plant growth, and plays a role in promoting the growth and development of plants, which is very important for agricultural countries like China. Potash salts can be used in industrial and agricultural fertilizers. Potash fertilizer is one of the three major fertilizers in agriculture and is very important for agricultural production. Since the potash mine was found in Lop Nur, it was the time when the dozing came with a pillow, right in time.
Tips: Potassium salts are generally soluble and have a high purity. Potash ore exists in brines on the surface of the Earth's crust or in lakes and oceans that are about to dry up, and the most important potash mines are found in Germany, Russia, Canada, Italy, France, Spain and the United States.
The drilling team pumped out the potash brine from Lop Nur and then separated the potash from the brine through a series of operations, and the remaining brine was discharged along the pipeline into Lop Nur . So the dried-up Lop Nur "lived". Lop Nur, which was once full of ravines and yellow sand, has become a turquoise and beautiful. Throughout the history of Lop Nur, although its interruption is affected by climate and geography, it is more caused by human activities, and looking at its "resurrection", it can be said that success is also by people, and failure is also caused by people.