Tibet, nicknamed the Roof of the World, has an average elevation of 4,000 meters above sea level. This region is covered with snow-laden mountains, surging rivers, alpine lakes, pasturelands, and river valleys.
In the north the natural
boundary is formed by grass fields, in the south by grain fields, in the west
by the table land and in the east by the rivers.Mountains surround Tibet. The Tanggula range is to the north, the Himalayas to the south, the Henduan Mountains to the east, the Kunlun Mountains to the west, and the Nyainqentanglha and Kangdese ranges in the centre. Many mountains in Tibet are capped with perpetual snow. Clouds and fog are large portions of the landscape. They creep between the mountain peaks and hover within the valley regions.
Glaciers are also a part of the scenery from Qomolangma. Rongbo is the longest and most extensive glacier found on Qomolangma. Ice formations as much as five meters high may resemble mushroom shapes, ice tables, ice bridges, ice pillars, ice caves, etc. Qomolangma and Xixabangma have some of the most impressive and spectacular natural ice sculptures. Especially in the north there're many grass lands, where're many sheep's and cows.
The area south of de river Yangtze, which is called the land of abundance because of it's gentle climate. Here's many arable farming, there's cultivated for instance highlandbarley which is the chief ingredient of the Tibetan food.
In some parts of Tibet there're also primeval forests, especially in the east. Here occurring many animals and plants. Like tigers, lynxes, leopards, oeran-utangs, bears, wolves, deer's, wild horses and ox's, fox's and antelopes. Some are becoming extinct because they produce products that should be healing.
The climate in Tibet is not really extremely. In high areas there're naturally hard winters, but actually Tibet has a dry climate, it can be very hot in the summer.
There are over 20 rivers that extend for
over 10,00 square kilometres each in the Tibet Autonomous Region. There are
also over 100 rivers with drainage areas of over 2,000 square kilometres each.
This region has more than 1,500 lakes with a surface area of 24,183 square
kilometres. The biggest lakes are the Nam Tso, Seling Tso, Yang cho Tso and the
Tangra Tso, which are all full with fish. The alpine lakes are fed by the
melting snow from the mountains. Nam Tso is the largest holy lake in the region
as is found in northern Tibet at an elevation of 4,718 meters above sea level.
It
covers 1,920 square
kilometers and has crystal blue water.The water clarity of Tibet is around 10 to 14 meters deep. The highest altitude lake lies within Ngari and is called the Mapam Yumco Lake. There are many pilgrimages to these holy lakes. The longest river in the region is called the Yarlung Zangbo (meaning snow water from high mountains) River and is also referred to as the "Cradle of Tibet" or the "Mother River." This water source comes from the Gyaimanezong Glacier in Zongba County in the northern foothills of the Himalayas. This river formed China's "Grand Canyon," which is a massive canyon in the shape of a horse's hoof that stretches 494.3 kilometres. This is the longest and largest canyon of its kind.
