IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.4 |
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Citation Information
| THE NAKTSONG-TSO, ITS SOUND, AND ITS WESTERN HALF. | 71 | |
| pierced in the middle, is of great interest; for, like the similar formations which I have already mentioned, it may be regarded as an old terminal moraine, which has been protected against destruction by the water. Wherever it rises above the sur- face of the lake it is flat and level, and consequently can hardly be regarded as a continuation of the stretches of hills that occur on both sides of it. The material of which the ridge is built up likewise consists of consolidated coarse sand and gravel. This ridge, too, like the promontories of the festoon arrangement in the narrow sound of the Naktsong-tso, may be regarded as indicating a more stationary position of the glacier in the course of its retrogression. The bathymetrical relations on both sides of this ridge are different: to the south the lake is very shallow while on the north side it descends by steep steps, so that close to its foot the depth is 1.51 m., but sinks relatively quickly to 8.77 m., this being the deepest sounding that I obtained in the northern basin of the lake. Nevertheless it does not warrant us in drawing any certain conclusions, because it represents the form that might equally well be assumed by a ridge that is the skeleton of a hard-rock range as by a moraine ridge. Immediately south of the ridge the bottom of the lake is bare, but at the northern foot Algae grow luxuriantly. On both of the approaching promontories there were large flocks of gulls, as on the previous capes. The last remaining portion of my three days' excursion on the Naktsong-tso was spoiled by the gale and the height of the waves; in fact both were more than my little skiff could face. Consequently I was unable to carry out fully my plan of taking two lines of soundings across the basin to the northern shore, where we were to meet the caravan. Along the one line that we did accomplish towards the north and north-west I obtained soundings of 1.5i, 1.86, 8.77, 3.7o, 3.52, 2.82, 7.45, 6.78, and 2.45 m. The caravan was waiting for us in the outlet of a flat glen on the western shore; that was Camp LXXXII. The winter seemed as if it were about to set in in these regions. At 9 p. m. the sky was perfectly clear, but an hour later a gale sprang up from the north- north-east, accompanied with violent hail, and after that it snowed for the greater part of the night. Next morning the ground was everywhere sheeted white, but soon after the sun rose, the snow disappeared, except on the northern faces of the mountains, where, in spite of the sunshine, it remained all day, though it vanished off the southern slopes. The immense range which we saw in the south, and particularly its dome-shaped culminating summit, were quite impressive in their vivid whiteness. | ||
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