AN ANALYSIS OF WATER RESOURCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RIVERS IN THE NORTHERN SLOPE OF THE KUNLUN MOUNTAINS

Key words: 
• river hydrology /
• water resources /
• rivers in mountain area /
• the Kunlun Mountains area

Abstract: There are 43 rivers of varying sizes in the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains, all of which originate from the Kunlun Mountains. Supplied by precipitation and melting water of glacier, the total runoff amounts to 87×10⁸m³. The analysis shows that water quantity distribution of the rivers in the area is more in the west, and less in the east. While in the west, the water quantity of the Hotan River amounts to more than half of the total, in th eeast, most rivers are seasonal rivers except the Keriya River and the Qarqan River, which have relatively large amount of waters. From the analysis of inner structures of the runoff series of the major rivers, we can see that the annual runoff series of all rivers are mainly stable independent random series. Such characteristics of the time series are determined by the supply characteristics of the rivers. Some measures of rationally using water resources are proposed finally.