| Lake Pelku | |
|---|---|
 From space, May 1997. North is down. | |
  Lake Pelku | |
| Location | Tibet Autonomous Region Shigatse Prefecture Gyirong County and Nyalam County |
| Coordinates | 28°55′N85°35′E / 28.917°N 85.583°E |
| Type | brackish |
| Primary outflows | None (endorheic). |
| Max. length | 27 km (17 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 4,591 m (15,070 ft) |
Lake Pelku [1] (Tibetan : དཔལ་ཁུད་མཚོ, Wylie : dpal khud mtsho, THL : pel khü tso), [2] Pelkhu, [3] or Paiku (Chinese :佩枯错; pinyin :Pèikū Cuò) [a] is a lake at 4,591 meters (15,062 ft) elevation on the Tibetan Plateau in Shigatse Prefecture. It is 18 kilometers (11 mi) south of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River, bordering Saga County, Gyirong County, and Nyalam County.
Contents
The lake is 27 kilometers (17 mi) long and 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) wide at its narrowest. It is surrounded by mountains reaching 5,700 to 6,000 meters (18,700 to 19,700 ft). Streams fed by glaciers cascade to the valley floor, but most sink into alluvial deposits before reaching the lake.
The surrounding catchment is an endorheic basin with no outlet. It would overflow into the Yarlung Tsangpo with a water level about 100 meters (330 ft) higher. The lake's brackish water is evidence that it has not overflowed in hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
