Siertan Lake

Siertan Lake

Siertan Lake is a cultural tourism attraction.

Siertan Lake

Ningxia’s Yanchi County is situated on the edge of the Mu Us Desert, featuring an arid climate with little rainfall. The poetic line “Lonely smoke in the desert rises straight” vividly describes the natural scenery of this area.

However, after five consecutive years of drought, starting from spring 1996, within just a short time, in the area southeast of the county town—between Siertan Village and Beitan Village in Chengjiao Township, Dongguozhuang Village, as well as Liuyaotou Village, Taipingmiao Village, and Zhaojitang Village in Qingshan Township—a miracle took place. Due to a rise in the groundwater level, a lake formed, stretching approximately 10.5 kilometers from east to west, covering a total area of over 30,000 acres, with the deepest point reaching 5.7 meters and an average depth of about 1 meter.

In Dongguozhuang Village of Chengjiao Township, 28 households had long dreamed of and longed for water. The entire village relied on wells that were 5 meters deep for drinking water. Every spring, when water was insufficient, they had to transport it by cart or carry it on foot from over ten miles away. Wang Shengyuan, a man over 60 years old, said: After the Spring Festival in 1996, the water in the wells rose, and it also changed from salty to sweet. By the end of February, the well water began to flow out, and almost one-third of the village’s 27 wells started flowing outward. Even the grain-drying grounds, which used to be extremely dry, began to sink under people's feet. Houses that had been lived in for more than eight years had walls seeping moisture outward, and the kang beds became very damp... Many elderly people who had lived most of their lives had never seen such a phenomenon. How exactly did this mythical large lake form? There was much discussion among the locals. Regarding this, experts from Ningxia conducted on-site investigations and monitoring. They first concluded that the formation of the lake had no direct connection to crustal activity and did not constitute an earthquake precursor anomaly. Finally, they provided the following explanation:

...No evidence of deep groundwater upwelling was found during the investigation. Near Siertan, water was observed seeping from the Cretaceous sandstone strata saturated with moisture, indicating that the water accumulation in the salt marsh area is caused by descending water. Analysis of remote sensing data revealed that there is an ancient river channel extending from north to south around Yanchi County and its vicinity. This ancient river channel, located in a low-lying area, serves as an excellent water storage site. The area where the lake formed is situated right on this ancient river channel. Since autumn 1996, this region has experienced concentrated rainfall, which was richer compared to previous years, gradually increasing the moisture content in the Cretaceous sandstone of the ancient river channel until it approached saturation. Coupled with the late and sudden arrival of the spring thaw in 1997—later and more intense than usual—it led to a large outflow of water from the rocks, accumulating in the low-lying areas. As a result, the groundwater level rose, and water pooled in some sections.