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Xainza County
Xainza County, also Shantsa, Shentsa,[2] (Tibetan: ཤན་རྩ་རྫོང; Chinese: 申扎县) is a county within Nagqu of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. In 1999 the county had a population of 16,190. GeographyThe capital lies at Naktsang Town or Xainza.[3] The county covers an area of 25,546 square kilometres (9,863 sq mi).[3] Until recent times the County extended all the way from the borders of Xinjiang in the north to the Brahmaputra River in the south, covering a larger area than the United Kingdom. It has since been split into two, Shentsa (Xainza) County and the new Nyima County to the east.[4]
Lakes in close proximity to the main town are Geren Lake, Mujiu Lake, Anzi Lake, Guomang Lake, Cuo'e and Ziguii Lake, Wuru Lake, Siling Lake[5] and Bangecuo. With an area of 1,865 square kilometres (720 sq mi), Siling Lake is the second largest saltwater lake in the northern Tibetan Plateau and forms part of the Siling Co National Nature Reserve (also Selincuo Reserve or Xainza Nature Reserve).[3] The 400,000 hectares (990,000 acres) reserve was established in 1993 and contains significant populations of black-necked cranes and some 120 species of birds in total.[3][6][7] Tibetan sheep, wild donkey, argali, snow leopards, bar-headed goose, etc., also inhabit the county.[3] ClimateXainza has an extreme subarctic climate, bordering on polar. The climate of the county is typical of a plateau climate zone, with thin, cold air and a dry climate, with 279.1 days of frost per year on average.[3] The average annual wind speed is 3.8 m/s (12.5 ft/s), the average annual temperature is 0.4 °C (32.7 °F), and the average annual precipitation is 298.6 millimetres (11.76 in).[3]
GeologyThe county has been geologically well assessed in publications. Xainza contains an Ordovician to Silurian stratigraphic succession and the area is part of the Xainza-Jiali Fault Zone.[11][12] Significant Triassic clastic deposits with gypsum beds and volcanic clastics have been found between Xainza and Coqên.[13] Early Devonian (Pragian-Emsian) rocks in Xainza County are said to "yield a shallow-marine, carbonate-platform fauna of corals, brachiopods, dacryoconarids, nautiloids and conodonts."[14] LakesEconomyAnimal husbandry is the chief source of income in the county.[3] Jiagang Hydropower Station was built in the 1990s and as of 2008 serves about 20,000 nomadic households across the county.[15][16] Gold mining in the county has reportedly affected water quality and some area of grassland.[17] An alluvial gold mine which generated "5 million yuan (US$617,300) of the county's 8.5-million budgetary income" was slated to be shut down in 2005.[18] Other reserves include iron, lead, copper, salt, borax and phosphorus.[3] The county has a reported geothermal resources area of about 100,000 square meters and is rich in fish resources.[3] Administrative divisionsThe county contains 2 towns and 6 townships.
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