Colorful Badain Jaran desert lakes

From an aerial view, lakes in the Badain Jaran Desert in north China’s Inner Mongolia are like gemstones scattered in a vast sandy land. Among the 144 lakes in this area, 12 are freshwater lakes.

The colors of the saline lakes can change from season to season and vary from green to blue and red to pink, due to the complexity of the chemical composition, variability of concentration and lighting elements.

The saline lakes are home to many organisms such as crustaceans and small fish, which can also endow the lakes with different colors.

Salt crust can be spotted around the rims of some lakes that are hyper-saline.

All of these natural factors have helped create a color-contrast landscape in Badain Jaran.