Natural Resources

2004-03-01 18:01

Tibet's complex topography and widely varying climates result in an abundance of natural resources. Its 1,220,000-square-kilometre area is crisscrossed by rivers offering enormous potential water power. The continuous snow mountains and valleys and the North Tibet Plateau house a wide variety of minerals The eastern and southern parts of the region are largely covered with primeval forests, home to rare animals and plants Plants Tibet is like a giant plant kingdom, with more than 5,000 species of higher plants Gyirong, Yadong and Zhentang, in western Tibet and Medog, Zayu and Lhoyu in southeast Tibet are like museums of rare plantlife.

Even in northern Tibet with its extreme natural conditions, there exist more than 100 kinds of plants. Tibet is also one of China's largest forest areas, preserving intact primeval forests. Almost all the principal plant species from the tropical to the frigid zones of the northern hemisphere are found here. Forestry reserves exceed 2.08 billion steres. The coverage rate is 9.84 percent. Common species include Himalayan pine, alpine larch, Pinus yunnanensis, Pinus armandis, Himalayan spruce, Himalayan fir, hard-stemmed longbract fir, hemlock, Monterey Larix potaniniis, Tibetan larch, Tibetan cypress and Chinese juniper. Spruce, fir and hemlock are distributed most widely, accounting for 48 percent of Tibet's forests by area and 61 percent by stock They are found mainly in the humid subalpine zones of the Himalayas, Nyainqentanglha and Hengduan ranges.

There are about 926,000 hectares of pine forest in Tibet. Two species, the Tibetan longleaf pine and Tibetan lacebark pine are included in the state listing of protected tree species There are more than a thousand plants used for medicine growing wild, 400 of which are in common use Particularly well known medicine plants include Chinese caterpillar fungus, Fritillaria Thunbergii, Rhizoma Picrorhizae, rhubarb, Rhizoma Gastrodiae, pseudo-ginseng, Codonopsis Pilosula, Radix Gentiane Macrophyllae, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, glossy ganoderma, and Caulis Spatholobi.

In addition, there are over 200 known species of fungi, including the famous edible fungi songrong, hedgehog hydnum, zhangzi fungus, mush rooms, black fungi, tremellas and yellow fungi and fungi with medical use such as tuckahoes, songganlan, stone-like omphalias.

Animals There are 142 species of mammals in Tibet, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects Wild animals include Cercopithecus, Assamese macaque, rhesus monkey, muntjak, head-haired deer, wild cattle, red-spotted antelopes, serows, leopards, clouded leopards, black bears, wild cats, weasels, little pandas, red deer, river deer, whitelipped deer, wild yaks, Tibetan antelopes, wild donkeys, argalis, Mongolian gazelles, foxes, wolves, Iynxes, brown bears, jackals, blue sheep, and snow leopards The Tibetan antelope, wild yak, wild donkey and argali are all rare species particular to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and are under state protection. The whitelipped deer, found only in China, is of particular rarity. The black-necked crane and the Tibetan pheasant are under the state first-grade protection.

Minerals There are more than 90 known mineral types in Tibet. Total reserves of 26 of these have been determined with 11 ranking among the top five in China by province. The region's 2,500 square kilometres of chromite deposits, concentrated along the Lake Pangkok Co to Nu River rift zone in northern Tibet and along the Yarlungzangbo River rift zone, are the most in China The Luobusha digging in Shannan Prefecture is now functioning as a chromite exploitation base. Tibet's prospective lithium deposits are among the most in the world and the region serves China as lithium production base Prospective copper and gypsum reserves rank second in China, boron, magnesite, barite and arsenic third, mica and peat fourth, and kaolin fifth. Other significant mineral deposits include salt, natural soda, mirabilite, sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, diatomaceous earth, iceland spar, corundum, rock quartz and agate.

Energy Tibet is weak in energy resources such as coal, oil and natural gas but rich in hydro, geothermal, solar and wind energy. Tibet produces approximately 200 million kilowatts of natural hydroenergy annually, about 30 percent of the nation's total. It has 354.8 billion steres in surface water resources, 13.5 percent of the nation's total, and 330 billion steres in glacial water resources. Approximately 70 percent of the region's surface waters is found in the hydroenergy capacity in the southeast The main stream of the Yarlungzangbo River has a natural hydroenergy capacity of 80 million kilowatts, which rises to 90 million kilowatts with the inclusion of its five branches the Doxungzangbo, Nyangqu, Lhasa, Niya and Parlungzangbo rivers. Tibet has about 56 59 million kilowatts in exploitable hydroenergy resources, 15 percent of the nation's total. Of particular importance is the Yarlungzangbo River, with more than 47.37 million kilowatts in exploitable energy capacity.

Investigations have found more than ten sites and sections of the river suitable for the construction of hydropower stations. In Nyingchi Prefecture between Paidi in Mainling County and Lidong Bridge in Medog County the great river curves dropping 2,190 metres over the course of a famous 200-kilometre gorge. A 36-kilometre channel cut through the rock would allow the river to flow directly from Paidi to Lidong Bridge where a giant 40-millionkilowatt hydropower plant could be built Investigations have found that Tibet leads China in geothermal energy.

More than 600 geothermal sites have been located in the Nu-Jinsha-Lancang tectonic zone, the Yarlungzangbo rift zone and the NagquNyemo rift zone, including hot springs, boiling springs, geysers, hot flow rivers and exothermic ground surfaces, with an estimated heat discharge of 550,000 kilocalories per second, the equivalent in heat pro duced annually to about 2.4 million tons of standard coal. The Yangbajain geothermal field in Damxung County, Lhasa, is currently China's largest hightemperature steam geothermal