page_title: Geography of Mongolia
section_title: Ecoregions
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of Mongolia / Ecoregions
caption_attribution_description: Üüreg Nuur in the Great Lakes Depression in western Mongolia. The NASA source incorrectly labels and describes this picture as Uvs Nuur. Üüreg Nuur is located to the south west just outside of the en:Uvs Nuur basin. A larger view in Google maps shows both lakes in context for verification.
context_page_description: Mongolia is a landlocked country in Central Asia and East Asia, located between China and Russia. The terrain is one of mountains and rolling plateaus, with a high degree of relief. The total land area of Mongolia is 1,564,116 square kilometres. Overall, the land slopes from the high Altai Mountains of the west and the north to plains and depressions in the east and the south. The Khüiten Peak in extreme western Mongolia on the Chinese border is the highest point. The lowest point is at 560 m, is the Hoh Nuur or lake Huh. The country has an average elevation of 1,580 m.
  The landscape includes one of Asia's largest freshwater lakes, many salt lakes, marshes, sand dunes, rolling grasslands, alpine forests, and permanent mountain glaciers. Northern and western Mongolia are seismically active zones, with frequent earthquakes and many hot springs and extinct volcanoes. The nation's closest point to any ocean is approximately 645 kilometres from the country's easternmost tip, bordering North China to Jinzhou in Liaoning province, China along the coastline of the Bohai Sea.
context_section_description: Altai montane forest and forest steppe
  Khangai Mountains conifer forests
  Selenge-Orkhon forest steppe
  Sayan montane conifer forests
  Trans-Baikal conifer forests
  Daurian forest steppe
  Mongolian-Manchurian grassland
  Altai alpine meadow and tundra
  Khangai Mountains alpine meadow
  Sayan Alpine meadows and tundra
  Alashan Plateau semi-desert
  Eastern Gobi desert steppe
  Gobi desert
  Gobi Lakes Valley desert steppe
  Great Lakes Basin desert steppe
  Junggar Basin semi-desert
caption: Endorheic lake in Northern Mongolia
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