Lop Nur (alternately Lop Nor or Lo-pu po) is a group of small salt lakes and marshes in the desert in Malan, Xinjiang, in Northwestern China. They are located in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The lake system is hydrologically endorheic - there is no outlet. The primary source of water is the Tarim River. Though it was determined to be a single salt lake by ancient Chinese geographers, it has largely dried up from its 1928 measured area of 3100 km².

Archaeologists have discovered the buried remains of settlements along its ancient shoreline. Marco Polo passed near the lake, and the explorers Nicholas Michailovitch Prjevalsky and Sven Hedin visited the area.

Since 1964 the lake has been used as a nuclear test site. Until 1996 45 nuclear tests were conducted. The headquarters of the test base is in Malan, about 125 km northwest of Qinggir. [1] (http://www.nti.org/db/china/lopnur.htm)

External links

• Information on the Lop Nur nuclear test facility (http://www.nti.org/db/china/lopnur.htm)
• Detailed satellite imagery of Lop Nur site (http://cmrweb.cmr.gov/rdss/resources/satimage/LopNor/LopNorEast01/)