Golmud

Golmud
格尔木市 · ᠭᠣᠯᠮᠣᠣᠠ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ · ན་གོར་མོ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།
Sub-prefecture-level city


Location of Golmud City (red) in Haixi Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai
Golmud

Location of the city centre in Qinghai

Coordinates: 36°25′N 94°53′E / 36.417°N 94.883°E / 36.417; 94.883Coordinates: 36°25′N 94°53′E / 36.417°N 94.883°E / 36.417; 94.883
Country People's Republic of China
Province Qinghai
Prefecture-level city Haixi
Area
  Sub-prefecture-level city 124,500 km2 (48,100 sq mi)
  Urban 72 km2 (28 sq mi)
Elevation 2,809 m (9,216 ft)
Population (1999)
  Sub-prefecture-level city 200,000
  Density 1.6/km2 (4.2/sq mi)
  Urban 130,000
  Urban density 1,800/km2 (4,700/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Website gem.gov.cn
Golmud
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 格尔木
Traditional Chinese 格爾木
Tibetan name
Tibetan ན་གོར་མོ།
Mongolian name
Mongolian ᠭᠣᠯᠮᠤᠳ

Golmud (Mongolian: ᠭᠣᠯᠮᠣᠣᠠ ; Chinese: 格尔木; pinyin: Gé'ěrmù; Tibetan: ན་གོར་མོ།, Wylie: Na-gor-mo ), sometimes transliterated as Ge'ermu or Geermu, is a county-level city in Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China, bordering Xinjiang to the northwest and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the southwest. Administrated by Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, it is the third largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan Plateau (after Xining and Lhasa). The population is now about 205,700.[1] The name of the city derives from Mongolian, and its literal meaning in the local Western Mongolian is "Rivers".

Geography

Golmud covers a total area of 124,500 square kilometres (48,100 sq mi). This includes an urban area of 72 km2 (28 sq mi). Golmud is located in the central-south part of the Qaidam Basin with an elevation of 2,809 metres (9,216 ft). Around the city there are more than 20 salt lakes of various sizes.

A large part of the county-level city of Golmud forms an exclave, separated from the rest of the county by the western "panhandle" of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Administratively, the exclave forms the so-called Tanggula Town.

Demographics

In 1999, the population of the total area of Golmud was approximately 200,000. The town had a population of 130,000, with ethnic Han Chinese comprising 90.2%.

Economy

Due to its location, Golmud abounds with natural resources from nearby salt lakes. Thus, industries involving salt lake chemicals have sprung up. Qarham Salt Lake to the northeast of Golmud proper boasts an area of 5,856 km2 (2,261 sq mi), making it the biggest inland salt lake in the world. Qarham Salt Lake resources are estimated to be worth over 15 trillion yuan. The lake is also China's largest production base for potassium, magnesium, and salt. Golmud also possesses natural gas reserves of 1 trillion m³ (35 trillion cu. ft.) plus over 50 varieties of minerals like gold, copper, jade and precious stones, lead, and zinc. Other important industries in Golmud include petrochemicals, oil refineries, and gas fields. Statistics for 2001 show that the city's nominal GDP totalled 2.213 billion yuan, a rise of 31.9% from the previous year and the highest growth rate since 1990. The Golmud Kunlun Economic Development Zone, which consists of an area of 28 km2 (11 sq mi), was built in 1992. Golmud is planned to become "China's Salt Lake City".[2][3]

Transportation

Railway

Golmud lies along the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, a 1,956 km (1,215 mi) railroad that starts from Xining and ends at Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Golmud-Lhasa section, with a length of 1,142 km (710 mi), was the last and most challenging part of the railway to be completed. After construction of 5 years, the first train for Lhasa left Golmud on 1 July 2006.

In October 2012 construction started on the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway. It will actually branch off the Qinghai–Tibet Railway at the Yinmaxia station north of Golmud, and will cross the Qaidam Basin and the Altyn-Tagh/Qilian system on the way to Dunhuang in the neighboring Gansu province.[4]

A planned Golmud-Korla Railway running north west from Golmud into Xinjiang province began construction in November 2014.[5]

Highways

Airport

Popular cultural references

The Golmud Railway (countryside near Golmud) is featured as an online multiplayer map in the video game Battlefield 4.

Climate

Golmud has a cold arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −9.1 °C (15.6 °F) in January and rises to 17.9 °C (64 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 5.28 °C (41.5 °F). Precipitation is very low, totaling only 42 millimetres (1.65 in) per annum, falling on 28 days, most of which are during the summer. Relative humidity averages only 32%, with all months below 40%, some of the lowest levels nationally. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 62% in July to 81% in November, the city receives 3,096 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Climate data for Golmud (1971–2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −1.3
(29.7)
2.9
(37.2)
8.6
(47.5)
14.5
(58.1)
19.4
(66.9)
22.6
(72.7)
24.7
(76.5)
24.2
(75.6)
19.3
(66.7)
12.9
(55.2)
5.4
(41.7)
−0.2
(31.6)
12.8
(55.0)
Average low °C (°F) −15.3
(4.5)
−11.6
(11.1)
−6.1
(21)
−0.2
(31.6)
5.3
(41.5)
9.4
(48.9)
11.6
(52.9)
10.9
(51.6)
6.3
(43.3)
−1.2
(29.8)
−8.9
(16)
−14
(7)
−1.1
(29.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) .6
(0.024)
.4
(0.016)
1.1
(0.043)
.9
(0.035)
3.7
(0.146)
8.5
(0.335)
13.5
(0.531)
7.8
(0.307)
3.4
(0.134)
.9
(0.035)
.7
(0.028)
.7
(0.028)
42.2
(1.662)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 1.4 .8 1.1 1.0 2.6 5.1 6.4 4.2 2.4 .7 .9 1.1 27.7
Average relative humidity (%) 39 30 27 24 27 33 37 34 33 29 32 38 31.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 219.9 210.9 247.7 274.3 295.3 273.4 276.4 284.6 261.2 277.7 247.7 227.3 3,096.4
Percent possible sunshine 72 69 67 70 68 63 62 68 70 80 81 76 70
Source: China Meteorological Administration[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Golmud.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.