Lop Lake

Lop Nur is the terminal lake of the Tarim Basin, a shallow expanse of water and marsh in the desert's eastern reaches. Its position and size changed as the Tarim and its channels shifted across the lowlands. In antiquity the waters sustained Loulan, a city at the meeting of routes entering the basin from the east. Reeds, salt flats and wind-carved ground mark the shores of this changing inland lake.