In the middle of the Ordos Plateau, at an altitude of 1,330 meters, there is a saline-alkali lake, which has always nurtured the ancient and unique plateau wetland ecosystem after the vicissitudes of time, nourishing a land and living beings, which is Taoa Haizi. Taoa Haizi is named after the local geographical characteristics, it is the abbreviation of Taoli Temple Alxa Bay Haizi, Taoa Haizi is composed of east and west parts, the east is Taoli Temple Haizi, the west is Alxa Bay Haizi, the islands in the center of the lake are located in the combination of the two Haizi, Alxa Bay Haizi is deeper than the water level of Taoli Temple Haizi.
Ancient land
According to the Chronicles of the Ikzhao League, "During the Pre-Archean period 3.6 billion years ago, the Ikun region was one of the most primitive ancient landmasses on Earth. After many complex crustal movements and sea and land changes, such a relatively complete and stable tectonic unit has been formed. "It is bounded by Yinshan Mountain in the north, Helan Mountain in the west, Qinling Mountains in the south, and Luliang Mountain in the east, which is a large depression-type inland basin, called the Ordos Basin in the broad sense. The terrain of Ordos is uplifted from north to south to the middle, and the uplift is in the first line from Dongsheng District to Hangjin Banner Forty Miles Liang, which is called the Ordos Plateau, and the terrain is centered on it and gradually decreases to the surroundings. In the central undulating plateau, there are some open low-lying flats and lakes in the closed flow area, and their edges are densely populated with natural willow forests. The water surface area of Taoli Temple Haizi is 5.38 square kilometers, with an average water depth of 2.1 meters, and the water quality is slightly better.
"Dongsheng City Chronicle" records, "Dongsheng western undulating plateau area is in the extension zone of Mu Us sandy land, sand, beams, beaches, moats, lakes are distributed alternately, the terrain is gently undulating, undulating, the land is relatively complete, the relative height difference is small, the southeast and west sides are slightly higher, the middle is low, similar to a basin. The larger rivers have the inner rivers that flow into the Taoli Temple Haizi, the Jigou River, the Urtu River, the Zharig River, the width of each river is 200-350 meters, all are seasonal rivers, the larger lake has the Taoli Temple Haizi, located at the southern end of the Bojiang Haizi Township and the junction of the Yijin Horo Banner, the water surface is 5.38 square kilometers.
This is the basic information of Taoa Haizi from far to near, from large to small, Taoa Haizi is located in a relatively primitive and stable ancient land, a local basin on the uplifted Ordos Plateau, and its formation has both geological tectonic characteristics and plateau geographical location characteristics. The small watershed in the undulating plateau area where Taoa Haizi is located is a complete closed basin with an area of 660 square kilometers, the overall topography is high around and low in the middle, the highest point is located in Bayan Aobao Mountain on the west side of the reserve, and the lowest point is located in Taoa Haizi Lake area. Due to the low-lying terrain, the rainfall from the highlands around Taoa Haizi is a hump-shaped, shallow water level, and the water area depends on the amount of catchment, which can be vast, small, or dry.
The bells of the Taoli Temple
According to the records of Dongsheng Cultural Relics, "Taoli Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty, there are 12 Dugua, 118 rooms, 6 lama dormitories, more than 200 lamas at the peak, 1 scripture library with Tibetan scriptures, 1,500 large and small bronze utensils and a corresponding object. ”
In the arid and water-scarce plateau area, there is a beautiful lake surface that is extremely rare and precious, flocks of water birds rest and breed and play in Taoa Haizi, the surrounding green grass, birds sing and flowers, the water plants in the lake are swaying, the fish fly shallow bottom, and the natural scenery is beautiful. Against the backdrop of the lake, the Taoli Temple is majestic, the incense is swirling, the ancient tower is towering, the ancient trees are towering, the Sanskrit sound is curling, the sound of the scriptures is Langlang, and the melodious bells of the Taoli Temple penetrate the smoke and dust of the years. Not far away, the sound of chickens and dogs is heard, cattle and sheep are grazing leisurely, hard-working people are working in the fields, and the picture of harmonious coexistence between man and nature is slowly spreading.
Taoli Temple was demolished in the mid-sixties of the last century, and it was built for a long time, but it was destroyed in one fell swoop, and the scripture burned for 3 days. The site of Taoli Temple is located in the buffer zone of Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve, 1200 meters away from Tao'a Haizi in a straight line, and there are 2 lama dormitories, 2 elm trees, 2 papaya trees and several piles of broken bricks and tiles, which seem to tell the world about the magnificent history and magnificent scene. In 2010, Tao A Haizi became a dry Haizi, the north and south pass through the lake, PetroChina geological exploration in the Taoli Temple Haizi was found in the center of a pair of bronze dragon body cultural relics, by the relevant experts to identify the cultural relics, the cultural relics are "bronze gilt double dragon", belongs to the late Qing Dynasty works, the dragon height is 83 cm, width 47 cm, total weight of 38.175 kg, two dragons are symmetrical, vivid shape, one is the left front paw to lift the dragon ball, one is the right front paw to lift the dragon ball, all with the wave type of oval base. When the cultural relics were unearthed, they were all black, and after cleaning, corrosion inhibition and sealing, they are now stored in the Dongsheng District Museum. There are many theories about the use, either for the sacrifice of the Taoli Temple, or for the things of Zhenhai. The excavation of the bronze gilt double dragon has cast a more mysterious veil on Tao Ahaizi.
Looking back at history, the vastness of Tao A Haizi and the deep bell of Tao Li Temple are blended together, the magnificence of nature sets off the greatness of human beings, the awe of human beings follows the power of nature, and man and nature share weal and woe.
The source of life
The average annual precipitation in the basin from 1961 to 2006 was 344.7 mm, the average annual precipitation was 325 mm, the maximum precipitation was 644 mm in 1961, and the minimum precipitation was 133 mm in 1965. With an annual evaporation of 2,234 mm, the 2.2-meter-deep area would dry up if there was no precipitation or replenishment in a year.
According to the article "Climatic and Environmental Changes in the Sedimentary Records of the Bojiang Haizi Lake in the Northern Mu Us Desert in the Past 130 Years", the lake core was drilled in the Bojiang Haizi Desert, and the environmental change characteristics of the lake sediments recorded in the past 130 years were summarized by analyzing the physical and chemical properties of the lake sediments. Before 1932, the climate was generally cold and arid; From 1932 to 1962, the climate was warm and humid, and the lake gradually deepened, and the climate was warm and humid but had a tendency to become colder. From 1962 to 1976, the climate fluctuated frequently, and the lake water was relatively deep and the salinity of the lake water was low. From 1976 to 1990, the water level of the lake was deep, but gradually decreased in the later period. Since 1990, there has been no significant decreasing trend in precipitation, but due to the rapid increase in temperature, the evaporation has increased, and the actual water level of the lake has been decreasing year by year.
In 1950, the local people spontaneously built two dams, which were washed away because there were no water discharge facilities. In 1951, 1 earthen dam was built, and the retreat canals of the Haizi River and the Jigou River were dug. From October to November 1955, the Jigou River flood dam and channel were built. 1 earthen dam with a length of 49 meters and a height of 4 meters. From 1955 to 1958, several impoundment projects were built in the Jigou River, most of which were washed away by floods in 1961. In 1964, a flood diversion and dredging project was completed on the north bank. On November 1, 1977, the construction started to build the "10,000 Mu Beach", with 26 weirs with a length of 39.6 kilometers, 2 canals with a length of 3,182 meters, and 2 large wells dug. A total of 320,000 cubic meters of earthwork were used; It was discontinued in 1980. These water conservancy projects are feats of human beings to transform nature and make use of nature, and at the same time, they also have a certain impact on Taoa Haizi.
According to Han Shilin, a 75-year-old local villager, in the mid-to-late 50s of the last century, there was only very little water in the Haizi (also known as Yang Wen for Haizi) in Alxa Bay. In 1961, the flooding of the Urtu River and the Jigou River broke out, and the water surface of Haizi expanded to the weather modification base in Dongsheng District, Ordos City. In the following years, the water level of Haizi decreased year by year, and dried up again in the early seventies of the last century, and in the mid-seventies, the Urtu River and the Jigou River were flooded again, and the waters of Taoa Haizi rose to the area of 1961, and then decreased year by year. The area of water in both cases was much larger than the impressive 13.8 square kilometres at the time of the 1998 floods. The water of Tao Ah Haizi has been repeating itself from profit to loss, and there has been no major flood in the past 20 years.
500 meters away from Haizi in Alxa Bay, in the buffer zone of Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve, there is a row of abandoned dilapidated ridged bungalows with leaky roofs and a circular cement doorway engraved with the words "Alxa Fishing Ground of Yikezhao League". The state-owned fishery built here by Yike Zhaomeng Aquatic Products Company in the eighties of the last century, in Ordos, which is rich in cattle and sheep, this sea is full of fish and fat, providing abundant fishery resources for the local area and enriching the dining table and life of the local people. It can also be seen from here that the fishing grounds were built when the water was abundant and abandoned in the years when the water was dry.
The life and vitality of the lake lies in the water, but for an arid and semi-arid water-scarce area, the life of Taoa Haizi as a whole is continuous, intermittent rather than continuous. Heavy rain, heavy rainfall and heavy rain are the main factors in the formation of surface runoff, and they are also the only source of water for Taoa Haizi, which depends on whether there is abundant rainfall and surface runoff in the 660 square kilometer basin. Some experts have studied that there is a cycle of abundant rainfall in the Taoa Haizi Basin, or there is a small cycle under a large cycle, but there is no authoritative research result. As long as it is not caused by factors such as artificially cutting off the water source, whether the water is full or dry, it is an intuitive embodiment of natural laws such as climate change.
Wetlands forever
Raised in the deep boudoir people do not know, one day to become famous in the world. At the end of the 80s of the 20th century, the Inner Mongolia wildlife survey team found the largest known population of relict gulls in nature in Taoa Haizi, so Taoa Haizi became famous at home and abroad. In order to protect the relict gull and its breeding grounds, in 1998, the local autonomous region-level nature reserve was built, and in the following years, experts in the forestry and grass industry and waterfowl industry paid more and more attention to Taoa Haizi, and the research continued to deepen, and the promotion of the reserve ushered in an acceleration, in 2001, the typical desert wetland area with Taoa Haizi as the core was promoted to the Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve. In 2002, it was soon listed as No. 1148 Wetland of International Importance, becoming a double-material desert wetland with a certain influence at home and abroad and a high level of protection. Affected by the climate and rainfall of the Ordos Plateau, Taoa Haizi has always been unable to get rid of the fate of rippling from the blue waves to the bottom of Shalu Lake, repeating the cycle, since 2000, Ordos has suffered from successive droughts, and the water volume of 13.8 square kilometers collected by Taoa Haizi in 1998 has been decreasing year by year, and finally drying up.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, ecological civilization and ecological security have taken a more prominent position, in order to maintain the importance of Taoa Haizi in the desert and wetland ecosystems in arid and semi-arid areas, give full play to its important role in biodiversity, and ensure the smooth and safe passage of migratory birds to the north and south, Ordos has worked hard to get rid of the curse of Taoa Haizi affected by climate and rainfall, and launched the ecological wetland water replenishment project in 2018. In recent years, under the condition of drought and windy evaporation and high temperature evaporation, and no surface runoff has been formed for many years, the water level has been maintained at about 8 square kilometers, the average water depth is 2.5 meters, and the reservoir capacity is 20 million cubic meters. The number of relict gulls and breeding nests continued to decrease until there was no breeding after 2000, and the number of relict gulls increased rapidly with ecological water replenishment, and in 2024, the number of relict gulls reached 3,000 and 420 nests were bred.
According to the monitoring and survey of authoritative institutions, Taoa Haizi carries more than 100,000 waterbirds every year, becoming a warm station for migratory birds on their long journey. There are 106 species of waterbirds, 6 species of national first-class protected animals such as relict gulls, oriental white storks and white-tailed sea eagles, and 18 species of national second-class protected animals such as whooper swans and demoiselle cranes.
We are pleased to see that after countless reciprocating cycles, Taoa Haizi has become a wetland that never dries up, nourishing the ever-expanding biosphere and retaining a good regional ecological environment of blue sky and blue sea, birds and flowers, and harmonious coexistence between man and nature for the ancient and modern Ordos Plateau.
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Source: Warm News WeChat public account Author: Wang Ruiping, Zhang Xiaoyan, Wei Jun, Jin Yurong Editor: Wu Zhuoqun Proofreader: Li Rong
Review: Yang Yang