Da Qaidam

Da Qaidam
大柴旦 · ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠤᠨ · ཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་
Tatsaitan
Administrative Zone
Da Qaidam coach terminal
Da Qaidam coach terminal
Location of Da Qaidam (red) in Haixi Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai
Location of Da Qaidam (red) in Haixi Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai
Da Qaidam is located in Qinghai
Da Qaidam
Da Qaidam
Location of the seat in Qinghai
Coordinates (Qaidam Town government): 37°50′57″N 95°21′41″E / 37.8491°N 95.3613°E / 37.8491; 95.3613
CountryChina
ProvinceQinghai
Autonomous prefectureHaixi
Township-level divisions2 towns
SeatQaidam Town
Area
 • Total
21,000 km2 (8,000 sq mi)
Elevation
3,174 m (10,413 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
16,287
 • Density0.78/km2 (2.0/sq mi)
 [1]
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Websitewww.dachaidan.gov.cn
Da Qaidam
Chinese name
Chinese大柴旦
Literal meaningBig Qaidam
Greater Qaidam
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDà Cháidàn
Wade–GilesTa Ch‘ai-tan
Tibetan name
Tibetanཚྭ་འདམ་ཆེ་བའི་
Mongolian name
Mongolian scriptᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠴᠠᠢᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠤᠨ

Da Qaidam is a county-level administrative zone in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern Qinghai province, China. It borders Gansu province to the north.

Etymology

Map including Da Qaidam (labeled as Ta-ch'ai-tan) and surrounding region from the International Map of the World (1975)

Da Qaidam is a combination of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of 大 (dà), the Chinese word meaning "big" or "greater", and the Zangwen Pinyin romanization of the Tibetan name ཚྭ་འདམ (qaidam), meaning "salt marsh" and referencing the surrounding Qaidam Basin. The Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese transcription of Qaidam is "Cháidàn".

Administrative divisions

The area administered as Da Qaidam is divided into two towns. The seat of Da Qaidam's administration is Qaidam Town, which lies at an altitude of 3,174 m (10,413 ft) above sea level.[2]

Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie Mongolian (traditional script) Mongolian (Cyrillic) Administrative division code
Town
Qaidam Town 柴旦镇 Cháidàn Zhèn ཚྭ་འདམ་གྲོང་བརྡལ། tshwa 'dam grong brdal ᠴᠠᠢᠳᠠᠮ ᠪᠠᠯᠭᠠᠰᠤ Цайдам балгас 632857100
Xitieshan Town 锡铁山镇 Xītiěshān Zhèn ཞི་ཐོའི་རི་གྲོང་རྡལ། zhi tho'i ri grong rdal ᠬᠣᠷᠭᠣᠯᠵᠢᠨ ᠠᠭᠤᠯᠠ ᠪᠠᠯᠭᠠᠰᠤ Хорголжин уул балгас 632857101

Geography and climate

Da Qaidam borders Delingha to the east, Lenghu to the west, Golmud across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and Jiuquan (Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin.

Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than 350 metres (1,150 ft) higher than Golmud, its climate is also subalpine in nature. The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −13.4 °C (7.9 °F) in January and rises to 15.5 °C (60 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 1.88 °C (35.4 °F). Precipitation is very low, totaling only 83 mm (3.27 in) per annum, falling on 35 days, most of which are during the summer. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 65% in July to 82% in October, the area receives 3,257 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Climate data for Da Qaidam, elevation 3,173 m (10,410 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) −3.2
(26.2) 		0.8
(33.4) 		5.6
(42.1) 		11.7
(53.1) 		16.2
(61.2) 		20.2
(68.4) 		22.9
(73.2) 		22.4
(72.3) 		17.5
(63.5) 		10.3
(50.5) 		3.5
(38.3) 		−1.8
(28.8) 		10.5
(50.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) −12.2
(10.0) 		−7.6
(18.3) 		−2.2
(28.0) 		4.1
(39.4) 		9.5
(49.1) 		13.9
(57.0) 		16.6
(61.9) 		15.7
(60.3) 		10.4
(50.7) 		2.3
(36.1) 		−5.0
(23.0) 		−10.7
(12.7) 		2.9
(37.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −19.8
(−3.6) 		−15.3
(4.5) 		−9.7
(14.5) 		−3.6
(25.5) 		2.0
(35.6) 		7.3
(45.1) 		10.3
(50.5) 		9.2
(48.6) 		3.7
(38.7) 		−5.0
(23.0) 		−12.1
(10.2) 		−17.8
(0.0) 		−4.2
(24.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 2.6
(0.10) 		1.8
(0.07) 		3.5
(0.14) 		2.5
(0.10) 		10.3
(0.41) 		23.8
(0.94) 		27.5
(1.08) 		14.2
(0.56) 		8.1
(0.32) 		1.8
(0.07) 		1.4
(0.06) 		1.3
(0.05) 		98.8
(3.9)
Average snowy days 3.5 2.6 2.8 2.1 2.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 1.5 1.8 2.7 19.7
Average relative humidity (%) 43 34 29 27 31 38 41 38 36 32 36 41 36
Mean monthly sunshine hours 231.8 227.1 271.3 293.1 309.7 285.2 283.0 283.7 265.5 280.1 242.0 228.5 3,201
Percent possible sunshine 75 74 72 74 70 65 64 68 72 82 81 77 73
Source: China Meteorological Administration[3][4][5]

Economy

As elsewhere in the Qaidam Basin, mining industries are of major importance in Da Qaidam. There is a lead mine in Xitieshan, the Xitieshan Lead Mine (锡铁山铅矿),[6] as well as a number of salt lakes where potash and related products are extracted.

Transportation

China National Highway 215 and China National Highway 315 pass through Da Qaidam and meet here. Yinmaxia railway station and Xitieshan railway station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway are both located within Da Qaidam.[2]

References

  1. ^ "海西州第七次全国人口普查公报（第二号）——各市县、行委常住人口情况" (in Chinese). Government of Haixi Prefecture. 2021-07-02.
  2. ^ a b 大柴旦地方志. Da Qaidam People's Government. 2008-05-13. Archived from the original on 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  3. ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  4. ^ 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  5. ^ 中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）. China Meteorological Administration. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
  6. ^ At 37°19′00″N 95°34′00″E / 37.31667°N 95.56667°E / 37.31667; 95.56667.
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