Lakes of Mongolia (eBook)

This book provides an overview of lakes in Mongolia from scientific, economic and scenic points of view, presenting lake area changes, their sedimentological and geochemical characteristics, valuable economic and geoheritage resources and paleoclimate change reconstruction. The book emphasizes internationally well-known lakes of Mongolia, but it also describes far less popular lakes which have remained unrecognized for scientific importance. The book offers modern, qualitative, process-oriented approaches and quantitative analytic results-based implications to understand the geomorphological, sedimentological and geochemical evolution of lake basins in Mongolia, and past and present climate changes in Mongolia and Eurasia. Insights into the interpretation of data obtained from the lake basins in the fields of geomorphology, sedimentology, geochemistry, geochronology and paleoclimatology are developed from theoretical principles, empirical observations, correlative illustrations, analytic measurements and conscious hypotheses. Based on the application of a combined compilation of recent Landsat 8 images of the lakes and topographic maps of them in 1970, this book presents enriched results and implications derived from remote sensing together with field measurements and laboratory analyses. This data compilation belongs to a research team at the Laboratory of Geochemistry and Geomorphology (LGG), National University of Mongolia (NUM).

Alexander Orkhonselenge focuses on glacial, lacustrine, fluvial and aeolian sedimentological, geochemical and geomorphological processes, paleoclimate changes and Quaternary science. Her interest in the galactic formation, evolution and processes in the Solar System and the Earth was inspired by a fascinating lecture on geochemistry in her freshman year. Later on, her continuous learning from eminent professors and researchers expanded in the fields of geomorphology, sedimentology and paleoclimatology. She established the Laboratory of Geochemistry and Geomorphology (LGG) at National University of Mongolia (NUM) on September 28, 2015 for training undergraduate and graduate students in Earth Science and for developing fields in Earth Science, especially geomorphology, sedimentology and geochemistry, in Mongolia. She was recognized as one of twenty Young Geomorphologists by the committee of the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) during the 8^th International Geomorphological Conference (IGC) in Paris, France in 2013 and one of the Early Career Research Fellows by the committee of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) during the XIX INQUA Congress in Nagoya, Japan in 2015. She is an author and a co-author of about twenty scientific articles published internationally.

Munkhjargal Uuganzaya received a Master degree of Science in Glacial Geomorphology under supervisor A. Orkhonselenge in 2015. She is now assistant researcher of Geomorphology at the Laboratory of Geochemistry and Geomorphology (LGG), National University of Mongolia (NUM). Her research focuses on alpine glaciations and lake area changes in Mongolia. She specializes in GIS and remote sensing techniques. She has participated in research projects at the LGG and published over ten scientific articles related to paleo- and modern-glaciers in the Mongolian Altai, Khuvsgul and Khentii Mountain Ranges and lake sedimentations in Lake Ulaan in national and international peer-reviewed journals.

Tuyagerel Davaagatan received a Master degree of Science in Lacustrine Geomorphology under supervisor A. Orkhonselenge in 2014. She is an assistant researcher of Geomorphology at Laboratory of Geochemistry and Geomorphology (LGG), National University of Mongolia (NUM), and she also works as a researcher at the Division of Physical Geography, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on lake sedimentations and past and present climate changes in Mongolia. She participated in the fieldwork for lake sedimentations in the Mongolian-Russian-Japanese-Korean joint international research project in paleolake Darkhad (DDP) in 2011, and the national research project 'Landscape Structure, Change, Planning and Proper Zonation in eastern Mongolia' in 2016. She also participated in some research projects at the LGG and has published more than ten scientific articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Recently, she published two co-authored books in Mongolian entitled 'Landscape Ecological Potential of Mongolia' in 2020 and 'Geographical Uniqueness of Mongolia' in 2021.