THE RESEARCHES OF GLACIER LAKE OUTBURST FLOODS OF THE YARKANT RIVER IN XINJIANG

The Jokulhlaup of the Yarkant River (Yarkant He) is usually csused by the sudden discharge of the glacier-dammed lake and the mode of the discharge is the rapid expansion of the subglacial channel. Keyajir (Kyagar) Glacier and Telamukanli Glacier are on the upper reaches of the Keleqin (Shaksgam) River, the chief birthplaces of this kind of flood. Up to the end of this century, since the global climate has become warmer, the glaciers have accordingly shrunk and become thinner, with the result that the size and dimensions of the glacier-dammed lakes and their outburst floods have diminished. All these simply reveal the mystery of the Jokulhlaups of the Yarkant River in Xinjiang.