by Zheng Mianping, 1997 (Kluwer Academic Publishers),
ISBN 0-7923-4098-1
excerpt from foreword by W.D. Williams:
Amongst the most noteworthy and significant features of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau are its lakes. But these are no ordinary lakes: contrary to what cursory and unknowing glances at any atlas may suggest, the lakes on the plateau are - for the most part - saline, with salinities from less than 3 to over 500 parts per thousand (the latter value, 14 times greater than that of the sea!), include some of the world's largest lakes (with almost 40 lakes of area greater than 50 km^2), and certainly include some to the world's highest lakes (e.g. Nam Co, area 1,961 km^2, lies nearly 4,600 m above sea-level). Without doubt, the lakes of the plateau are unique.
p. 208: excerpt: Halotolerant organisms in other lakes: Artemia salina Linneaus
So far, Artemia salina Linneaus has been found to occur in 16 saline lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The lakewater salinities of these saline lakes differ greatly from one another, ranging from 7 g/l to 258 g/l , and are, in most cases, 10-15% higher or lower than the salinity range normally required by Artemia salina; the lakewaters are weakly alkaline or alkaline with pH values in the range of 7.5-9.6 and mostly belong to the sulfate type according to Kypnakov-Valyshko's hydrochemical classification of saline lakes. As compared with the lakes elsewhere in China, these saline lakes show higher contents of trace elements such as B, Li, Cs, Rb and As in the brine. The 16 saline lakes are located in areas 2813-4902 m above sea level. Among them, eleven lakes lie in the semi-arid region on the plateau temperate zone-semi-arid region of plateau subfrigid zone at elevations of 4240-4902 m with annual air temperatures in the range of 1.6 C to
-1.5 C.
The peculiar physio-geographic and hydrochemical conditions of the occurrence of Artemia in the plateau saline lakes are of major significance for the further study of the strain, coenology an ecology of Artemia.
The author lists 11 lakes in Tibet and 5 in Qinghai where Artemia occurs, with their geographical position, salinity, pH, chemical composition, climatic & hydrochemical type, elevation, and temperature data.