Mongolia travel and tour information

Huvsgul Nuur (Hovsgol Lake) is a lake of tectonic origin in the Baikal Rift zone and is thought to be several million years old. As such it is one of the few lakes in the world this old, and of these, it is the most pristine. Hövsgöl Nuur is the largest source of fresh water for Mongolia, containing almost 70% of the suface freshwater for the country. The lake is large, 136 km long and between 20-40 km wide. The maximun depth of the lake is 262 m. The watershed of the lake is virtually undisturbed by man's activities and retains a diverse and interesting terrestrial and aquatic biota. The level of endemism (species found nowhere else) is 10-20% of the species in many groups, but many organisms are not well studied.

In 1995, the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP) began collaboration with the National University of Mongolia and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS) in joint biodiversity research in the Hövsgöl Nuur (lake) watershed, Mongolia. Additional collaborators have included scientists at American and Russian universities and institutes. Expeditions sampling the lake and its tributaries have occurred in the summers of 1995-1997 under National Science Foundation funding and research on the lake has continued to the present from other funding sources. Numerous aquatic invertebrate groups have been sampled during these expeditions, and many of these groups have now been identified and analyzed.