During the dry seasons, the lake remains much smaller in size.
Only when it rains, the lake extends to its full size.
This has earned Chaka Salt Lake the nickname of Mirror of the Sky.
In this regard, Chaka Salt Lake is like the smaller cousin of Bolivias famousSalar de Uyuni.
The region where the lake is located was once a shallow sea.
Tectonic movement then raised this block of ground more than 3,000 meters up to form the huge Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
There is now over 5 meters of salt in Chaka Salt Lake.
The salt lakes of the Qaidam Basin has been mined for more than 3,000 years.
Large scale exploitation of salt began in the second half of the 18th century.
Photo credit:randomix/Flickr
A salt sculpture near the lake.
Sources:Travel China Guide/Baidu
