Khanka Lake is a transboundary freshwater body located on the border between Primorsky Krai

Primorsky Krai

Primorsky Krai , informally known as Primorye , is a federal subject of Russia . Primorsky means "maritime" in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province or Maritime Territory. Its administrative center is in the city of Vladivostok...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Heilongjiang

Heilongjiang

For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...

 province, Northeast China

Northeast China

Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...

 (at 45°0′N 132°25′E). At its closest point, it is situated 79 kilometres (49.1 mi) east of the city of Jixi

Jixi

Jixi is a city in eastern Heilongjiang Province in the People's Republic of China. At the 2010 census, 1,862,161 people resided within its administrative area of 22,351 square kilometers and 757,647 in its built up area made of 4 out of 6 urban districts...

, Heilongjiang. The area of the lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 is 4190 square kilometres (1,617.8 sq mi), of which 3030 km² (1,169.9 sq mi) (72 %) is located in Russia and 1160 km² (447.9 sq mi) (28 %) in China.

Physical data

Khanka Lake is the name given to two lakes separated by a 10 metres (32.8 ft) sandy hill. Lake shores are swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

y, except in the north-west. The lake's drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is an alluvial plain

Alluvial plain

An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...

 of around 16890 square kilometres (6,521.3 sq mi), of which 97% is in Russian territory. With 4000 to 4400 km² (1,544.4 to 1,698.8 sqmi) of water surface area, it is the largest water body of Northeast China. It is fed by 23 river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

s (8 in China and 15 in Russia), but the only outflow of the lake is the Songacha River

Songacha River

The Songacha or Sungacha River is a river marking part of the border between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. It is a tributary of the Ussuri River, and the only outflow of Khanka Lake....

. The lake's average depth is 4.5 metres (14.8 ft), while its maximum depth is 10.6 m (34.8 ft). Its average volume is 18.3 cubic kilometres (4.4 cu mi), though it can fill up to 22.6 km³ (5.4 cu mi). The lake belongs to the Ussuri River

Ussuri River

The Usuri ula is a river in the south of the Outer Manchuria and east of Inner Manchuria . It rises in the Sikhote-Alin range, flowing north, forming part of the Sino-Russian border based on the Sino-Russian Convention of Peking in 1860, until it joins the Amur River at Khabarovsk . It is...

 System, which is part of Amur River System. The maximum monthly mean temperature

Temperature

Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...

 is 21.2 °C (70.2 °F) (July), while the minimum monthly mean temperature is −19.2 °C. Rainfall mainly occurs in summer, reaching 750 millimetres (29.5 in) annually. The residence time

Residence time

Residence time is the average amount of time that a particle spends in a particular system. This measurement varies directly with the amount of substance that is present in the system....

 of Khanka Lake is one year.

Biodiversity and environment

The area around the lake is an important wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

 habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 and forms a National Nature Reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 on the Chinese side and the Khanka Lake Nature Reserve on the Russian side. It is a remarkable site for nature protection, eco-tourism as well as scientific research (concerning bird migration

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

s). The rare Lesser White-fronted Goose

Lesser White-fronted Goose

The Lesser White-fronted Goose is a goose closely related to the larger White-fronted Goose .It breeds in northernmost Asia, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe. There is a re-introduction scheme in Fennoscandia....

 makes its home upon this lake. The part of the lake in China is managed by the People's Republic of China Government and is exploited by collective farms for fishery

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

, agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and livestock raising.

History

In the Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 era, there was a well-developed Bohai

Balhae

Balhae was a Manchurian kingdom established after the fall of Goguryeo. After Goguryeo's capital and southern territories fell to Unified Silla, Dae Jo-yeong, a Mohe general, whose father was Dae Jung-sang, established Jin , later called Balhae.Balhae occupied southern parts of Manchuria and...

 culture in the area of the Khanka Lake.

In mass media

The National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

 represented the film named "Secret Forest" as the part of the cycle "Wild Russia

Wild Russia

Wild Russia is a series of documentaries about Russia made by National Geographic in 2009. It was narrated by Paterson Joseph. It was re-edited and aired by Animal Planet in the United States, narrated by Jason Hildebrandt.- Series :...

" which describes the nature reserves of Ussuri Krai

Ussuri krai

Ussuri krai is an unofficial name for a part of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsky Krai that consisted of Ussuri and South-Ussuri Okrugs. The name was often used in late Imperial Russia...

, including Khanka Lake wildlife.