Har Nuur sits in the Valley of Lakes of western Mongolia. Bordered bymultiple mountain ranges, the Valley of Lakes hosts remnant basins of larger ancient lakes, dune fields, and salt marshes. Har Nuur, like other lakes in the region, is a closed-basin lake fed by precipitation.

My guess is the pH and dissolved mineral content of the lake is pretty dang high – I wonder if anything other than little crustaceans and planktonic life can survive there.

Har Nuur, Mongolia : Image of the Day.

-+-

An earlier post from the Earth Observatory Image of the Day (if I had to guess, I’d say that north=down in this one):

Sand Dunes in Har Nuur (Black Lake), Western Mongolia

*

And for folks who’d like to explore via Google Earth, a Khyargas Nuur placemark.