Lop Nur
Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts in the southeastern portion of the Xinjiang (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). Administratively, the lake is in Lop Nur town (), also known as Luozhong () of Ruoqiang County, which in its turn is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.