Some new progress in scientific research on the Lop Nur Lake region,Xinjiang, China

The Lop Nur Lake, a famous lake in the arid areas of China, is located in the communications center of the ancient Silk Road which facilitated the flow of culture between China and Western countries and enjoyed the great reputation in the ancient history of China. Since the recent 100 years, some Chinese and foreign scholars have explored and investigated here, they, however, could not get to the hinterland of the lake basin due to the hard and dangerous roads. Therefore, there are many divergences and controversies about the Lop Nur Lake region1,2]. In order to clarify these issues, know the usable natural resources and sum up the historical experiences and lessons of dry-up of the Lop Nur Lake, a scientific investigation team was organized by Xinjiang Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out the investigation and research about the Lop Nur Lake region in the 1980s. Recently, some personnel from CCTV and other institutions went to the lower reaches of the Tarim River and the Lop Nur Lake region to undertake the research for coordinating the strategic decision of the Great Development of Western China and the synthetic harnessing of the Tarim River, and a series of achievements in scientific research have been achieved.