What is the hydrological environment in Tibet like? What are Tibet's natural resources like?

Tibet covers an area of ​​1,202,230 square kilometers, accounting for about 1/8 of the country's total area, second only to Xinjiang among all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. With an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, it is known as the "Roof of the World". At the end of 2012, the total permanent population of the region was 3.08 million, with jurisdiction over 4 prefecture-level cities, 3 regions, 4 urban districts and 72 counties. So what is the hydrological environment of Tibet? What about Tibet's natural resources? Let's take a look at the introduction of Encyclopedia Knowledge Network below!

Contents of this article

1. What is the hydrological environment in Tibet?

2. What are Tibet’s natural resources like?

3. What are the grassland and arable land resources in Tibet like?

What is the hydrological environment like in Tibet?

Tibet is rich in water resources and is the provincial administrative region with the largest water area in China. Its surface water exists in many forms, including rivers, lakes, swamps, and glaciers, among which rivers and lakes are the most important.

There are 28 rivers with a drainage area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers in Tibet, and more than 100 rivers with a drainage area of ​​more than 2,000 square kilometers. Tibet is one of the provinces with the most rivers in China. The famous Yangtze River, Nujiang River (Salween River), Lancang River (Mekong River), Indus River, Ganges River, and Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra River) all originate from or flow through Tibet. Tibet has many lakes, with a total area of ​​more than 1,500 lakes of various sizes, totaling 24,000 square kilometers, ranking first in the country. Among them, there are 816 lakes with an area of ​​more than 1 square kilometer, and 3 lakes with an area of ​​more than 1,000 square kilometers, namely Namtso, Selincuo and Zharin Namucuo. Tibet has 11,468 glaciers, with a glacier area of ​​28,645 square kilometers, accounting for 49% of the country, an ice reserve of about 253.3 billion cubic meters, accounting for 45.32% of the country, and an annual meltwater volume of 31 billion cubic meters, accounting for 53.4% ​​of the country, all ranking first in the country.

What are Tibet's natural resources like?

Lighting resources

The annual total solar radiation in Tibet reaches 140-200 kcal/cm2, nearly twice that of my country's eastern coastal areas.

Wind resources

Tibet is one of the regions with the most strong winds (≥ level 8 or 17 m/s) in the country, with an average of 100-150 days of strong winds per year, and up to 200 days, which is 4-30 times more than that in my country's eastern region at the same latitude.

Water Resources

According to statistics, the total water resources in the region are 439.465 billion cubic meters (excluding groundwater), accounting for 16.21% of the total river runoff in the country, ranking first in the country; the per capita water resources and the per mu water resources are also the first in the country; the theoretical reserves of hydropower resources in the region are 210 million kilowatts, and the technically exploitable reserves are 140 million kilowatts, both ranking first in the country.

What are the grassland and arable land resources in Tibet like?

The region has 1.334 billion mu of natural grassland, accounting for about 74.11% of the total area of ​​the region, ranking first in the country, of which 1.129 billion mu is usable natural grassland; the cultivated land area is 6.6266 million mu (5.5075 million mu in the actual controlled area), including 622,600 mu of paddy fields, 3.9821 million mu of irrigated land, and 2.0219 million mu of dry land; the sown area of ​​crops is stable at 3.7702 million mu.