page_title: Turpan Depression
section_title: Geology and relief
hierarchical_section_title: Turpan Depression / Geology and relief
caption_attribution_description: Español: Camellos junto a las Montañas en llamas o Montañas flamígeras. Cerca de Turpan en Xinjiang, China.English: Camels close to Flaming mountains near Turfan in Xinjiang (China).
context_page_description: The Turpan Depression, or Turfan Depression, is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China, about 150 kilometres southeast of the regional capital Ürümqi. It includes Lake Ayding, −154 metres, the second or third lowest depression on Earth.
  By some measures, it is also the hottest and driest area in China during the summer.
context_section_description: The Turpan Basin is a fault-bounded trough located in the eastern part of the Tian Shan. It covers an area of 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). The surrounding mountain ranges are: the central Tian Shan in the west, the Bogda Shan in the north-west, the Haerlike Shan in the north-west, and the Jueluotage Shan in the south. Beyond the surrounding mountain ranges lie the Junggar Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south.
  Some geographers also use the term Turpan-Hami Basin, which is understood as including the Turpan Depression along with the Hami Depression (located to the east of the Turpan Depression, and to the southwest of the city of Hami) and the Liaodong Uplift separating the two depressions. A source using this terminology gave the area of the Turpan Depression proper as 28,600 km² (11,000 sq mi), that of the Hami Depression as 19,300 km² (7,500 sq mi), and for the entire Turpan-Hami Basin, as 48,000 km² (19,000 sq mi).
  The Turpan Basin formed in a shear zone during the Late Permian due to motion between the East European and the Angaran craton. It was subsequently deformed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates in the Cenozoic. In the latter deformation, a thrust fault belt running from east to west, the Flaming Mountains, was formed in the center of the basin. The Flaming Mountains are 98 km (61 mi) long and 9 km (5.6 mi) wide; the highest peak reaches an elevation of 831.7 m (2,729 ft) above sea level. The Turfan volcano is located near Turpan.
  Also in the center of the basin lies the Ayding Lake (Moonlight Lake) which has an elevation of 154.5 m (507 ft) below sea level, the sixth lowest exposed elevation on the Earth's land surface. It is the lowest surface point in China.
  The Shihongtan uranium ore deposit is located at the southwestern margin of the Turpan Depression, some 35 km (22 mi) south-southwest from Turpan City.
caption: Basin scene near Flaming Mountains
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