Page "Tibet Autonomous Region" Paragraph 9

The Tibet AR is dotted over with large and small lakes, generally salt or alkaline, and intersected by streams.

Due to the presence of discontinuous permafrost over the Chang Tang, the soil is boggy and covered with tussocks of grass, thus resembling the Siberian tundra.

Salt and fresh-water lakes are intermingled.

The lakes are generally without outlet, or have only a small effluent.

The deposits consist of soda, potash, borax and common salt.

The lake region is noted for a vast number of hot springs, which are widely distributed between the Himalaya and 34 ° N., but are most numerous to the west of Tengri Nor ( north-west of Lhasa ).

So intense is the cold in this part of Tibet that these springs are sometimes represented by columns of ice, the nearly boiling water having frozen in the act of ejection.