Page | 10Lakes
Mongolia has several thousand lakes larger than
1.3 sq km (0.5 sq mi).^41 Many of these lakes lie in
desert depressions and are salty and without
outlets to the sea, including Lake Uvs in the Great
Lakes Depression, Mongolia’s largest.^42 Other
large lakes in the Great Lakes Depression include
saline Lake Hyargas and freshwater Lake Har
Us.^43 Mongolia’s largest freshwater body of water
is Lake Hovsgol, located in the country’s far
northern reaches just south of the Russian border.
Known as “Mother Sea” by nomadic tribespeople, Lake Hovsgol contains 74% of
Mongolia’s and 1% of the world’s total freshwater resources.44,^45
(^41) Encyclopædia Britannica Online, “Mongolia: The Land: Drainage,” 2011,
Its only outlet
ultimately feeds into the Selenge River.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389335/Mongolia
(^42) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Aquastat, “Mongolia,” 2010,
http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries/mongolia/index.stm
(^43) Encyclopædia Britannica Online, “Mongolia: The Land: Drainage,” 2011,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389335/Mongolia
(^44) Mongol Environmental Conservation, “Lake Hovsgol Management,” n.d.,
http://mongolec.org/programs/lake-hovsgol-management
(^45) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Aquastat, “Mongolia,” 2010,
http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries/mongolia/index.stm