Experts said China's largest salt lake in
Qinghai,
a province neighboring
Tibet is becoming seriously basified, indicating environmental
deterioration.
Ma
Haizhou, a Chinese Academy of Sciences expert on salt lakes, said
the pH level of Qinghai lake has increased to 9.5, 46 percent
higher than the level of sea water. The lake water contains 16 kg
of salt per liter, up by 28 percent on the figures of thirty years
ago.
Ma
said a decrease in both rainfall and underground water supply has
resulted in a drop of 11.7 meters in the lake's water level within
a century. And the per-unit salt level has increased
accordingly.
Qinghai lake, which is almost as big as Salt Lake in Utah, the
United States, is located 3,200 meters above sea level on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The basification has caused the average size
of fish in the lake to decrease and also curbed their reproduction
level.
Ma
said the reasons for the changes in the lake's water level still
remain a mystery, and it needs world attention.
(People’s
Daily October 28, 2001)