Khar Lake (Khovd)

For other uses, see Khar Nuur (disambiguation).

Khar Lake (Mongolian: Хар нуур, ᠬᠠᠷ᠎ᠠᠨᠠᠭᠤᠷ; lit. 'Black Lake') is located in the Khovd aimag (province) in western Mongolia's Great Lakes Depression.

Khar Lake
The western shore of Khar Nuur
Khar Lake
Location	Great Lakes Depression, Western Mongolia
Coordinates	48.08°N 93.2°E / 48.08; 93.2
Lake type	eutrophic
Primary inflows	Chono Kharaikh Gol
Primary outflows	Teeliin Gol
Catchment area	76,800 km2 (29,700 sq mi)[1]
Basin countries	Mongolia, Russia[2]
Max. length	37 km (23 mi)
Max. width	24 km (15 mi)
Surface area	575 km2 (222 sq mi)
Average depth	4.2 m (14 ft)
Max. depth	7 m (23 ft)
Water volume	2.422 km3 (0.581 cu mi)
Residence time	1.7 years
Surface elevation	1,132.3 m (3,715 ft)
Frozen	December - April

Name

It is also known as Ha-la Hu, Hara Nuur, Har Nuur, Khara Nur, Khar Nuur, and Ozero Kara-Nor^[3]

It should be distinguished from the similarly named Khar Lake (Zavkhan), another lake further east in Mongolia.

Description

It is part of a group of lakes that were once part of a larger prehistoric lake that disappeared 5,000 years ago as the region became drier.

Some sources are using different Khar Lake statistics values:^[4]

• Water level: 1,134.08 m
• Surface area: 565.2 km²
• Average depth: 4.14 m
• Volume: 2.34 km³.

Water Balance

Water balance of Khar Lake^[4]
(Unit of water balance: mm/year)

Surface input		Surface output		Groundwater inflow- outflow	Retention time, years
Precipitation	Inflow	Evaporation	Outflow
54.0	1,786.9	1,117.8	1,287.9	+564.8	1.7

Khar Lake has a single inflow - Chono Kharaikh Gol river, which creates a river delta.

Natural channel from Khar Lake to Dörgön Lake

Khar Lake has a connection to Dörgön Nuur south of it.