| Spanggur Tso | |
|---|---|
| Mandong Tso | |
  Spanggur Tso Location of Spanggur Lake Show map of Ngari Spanggur Tso Spanggur Tso (Ladakh) Show map of Ladakh | |
| Location | Rutog County,Tibet Autonomous Region, China |
| Coordinates | 33°32′11″N78°54′32″E / 33.53639°N 78.90889°E /33.53639; 78.90889 |
| Type | Soda lake |
| Max. length | 20.9 km (13.0 mi) |
| Max. width | Max 4.5 km (2.8 mi) average 2.95 km (1.83 mi) |
| Surface area | 61.6 km2 (23.8 sq mi) |
| Surface elevation | 4,305 metres (14,124 ft) |
Spanggur Tso, also calledMaindong Tso,Mendong Tso, is a saltwater lake inRutog County in theTibet Autonomous Region of China, close to the border withLadakh. India claims a major portion of the lake as its own territory, as part of Ladakh. To the west of the lake lies theSpanggur Gap, a low pass through which theLine of Actual Control runs. To the north is the much larger lakePangong Tso. Spanggur Tso is at an elevation of 4,305 meters and has an area of 61.6 square kilometres. The lake's average annual temperature is around -4 to -2 °C, and the annual precipitation is 50 to 75 mm. The western portion of the lake is claimed by India.
The Tibetan name of the lake isMaindong Tso orMendong Tso (Tibetan:སྨན་གདོང་མཚོ,Wylie:sman gdong mtsho;Chinese:曼冬错;pinyin:Màn dōng cuò),[1]which means "medicine face lake".[2]In Ladakh, it was known asTso Rul ("bitter lake") and its waters were described as extremely bitter on account of being salty.[3][4]
The more common name in English,Spanggur Tso (Tibetan:སྤང་འཁོར་མཚོ,Wylie:Spang 'khor mtsho;Chinese:斯潘古尔湖;pinyin:Sī pān gǔ ěr hú), owes to the small campsite called "Spanggur" at the northwestern end of the lake at33°34′47″N78°48′08″E / 33.57972°N 78.80222°E /33.57972; 78.80222.[1] Its phonetic spellings vary asBangkor,Pangkhor andPangggor.[1]
The British Indian explorers in the 19th century knew the lake asTso Rul ("Bitter Lake") and stated that its waters were extremely bitter.[5] The lake lies in a long valley that connects the Chushul Valley to the Rudok Valley. A single river, Tangre Chu, flows along the valley for 10–12 miles, and drains into the Spanggur Tso.[6] The lake is about 16 miles (26 km) long and less than 2 miles (3.2 km) wide.Henry Strachey found fossil shells ofLymnaea auricularia along its shores, leading to the conclusion that the waters of the lake must have been at one time fresh.[5]
To the west of the lake, there is a gap in the mountains, which is referred to as theSpanggur Gap. The mountains to the north of the gap are thought to belong to thePangong Range, while those on the south are regarded part of theKailash Range. The Spanggur Gap connects Spanggur area to the Chushul Valley (or Tsaka Chu valley) running north–south on the Ladakh side of the border. At one time the Spanggur Tso must have drained through the gap into the Tsaka Chu Valley and Pangong Tso. The present state of affairs is believed to be either due to subsidence of the Spanggur Valley.[7]
The British Boundary Commission for Kashmir in 1847 placed the entire Spanggur lake in Tibet'sRudok Dzong (modernRutog County). (Map 1) The Kashmir Survey, completed in 1864, placed slightly more than half the lake in Ladakh but the eastern extremity in Rudok.[8] (Map 2)
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China established a military camp in the Spanggur area in 1959.[9]: 67 During theSino-Indian War, Chinese troops attacked and overcame four Indian posts in the area in November 1962.[9]: 176
In February 2016, the Chinese garrison at Spanggur, referred to as the "Moldo garrison" in the Indian media, conducted a joint exercise with the Chushul garrison in the interest of peace and cooperation. They coordinated rescue missions by joint teams in the event of a natural disaster occurring along theLine of Actual Control (LAC). Similar exercises were continued over the years.[10]
In June 2020, in the midst of majorborder skirmishes between the two countries, the tactical commanders met at Moldo to find ways of deescalation.[11]
