Wenquan, Golmud
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Wenquan (Template:Zh, i.e. "Warm Springs") is a small settlement in the Qinghai province of China. Administratively, it is part of Tanggula Town, which is an exclave of Golmud County-level city, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Originally constructed in 1955,[1] Wenquan is one of the small settlements serving China National Highway 109 (the main road into Tibet), and, later, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Geography
The settlement is located in the area where the highway and the railway cross the Tanggula Mountains, the mountain range in the center of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is located a few tens of kilometers north of the Tanggula Pass, where the road and the railway enter from Qinghai Province into the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is one of the highest settlements in the world with residences up to Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level.
Although not really a "city" by any definition, Wenquan is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records (misspelled as "Wenzhuan") as the world's highest city, with an incorrect elevation of Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level.[2] Travel books also inflate the size and elevation of this settlement.[1] However, National Geographic Magazine (May 2003) gives the highest city distinction to La Rinconada, Peru, which has a much higher population and lies at Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level.[3]
Some 20–30 km to the north of Wenquan, in the same highway/railway corridor, detailed maps (e.g., Script error: No such module "Coordinates". on Google Maps) show Wenquan Military Station (Script error: No such module "Lang".).
According to bicycle tourists who visited the place in 2000, Wenquan, like other settlements in the region, was "small. Just a few buildings." There were indeed warm springs in the area. They described the location, based on their maps, as being "at 4,800+ metres" elevation,[4] an elevation confirmed (at 4,850 to 4,870 meters) by SRTM data.
Climate
Wenquan has a tundra climate (Köppen classification ET) bordering very closely on a subarctic climate (Köppen classification Dfc). It has cool summers with some precipitation and cold, dry winters. The yearly precipitation is Script error: No such module "convert"., which means Wenquan is technically in a desert. Due to its high elevation, there is high diurnal temperature variation. Script error: No such module "weather box".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Footnotes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b Buckley, Michael and Strauss, Robert. Tibet: a travel survival kit, pp. 219, 230. (1986) Lonely Planet Publications, Victoria, Australia. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Altitude of Human Survivability, Maximum (Vertical Limit).
- ↑ Tibet. A journal. August 07, 2000 Template:Webarchive
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
See also
- List of towns and villages in Tibet
- List of highest cities in the world
- List of highest towns by country
- La Rinconada, Peru
- Tuiwa
Script error: No such module "Coordinates".