The lakes in Mongolia are distributed unevenly across the country. Many, including some of the largest, can be found in the Great Lakes Depression between the Altai, Khangai and Tannu-Ola mountain ranges in the west. A second group can be found in mountain valleys throughout the country. Lake Khövsgöl in a rift valley south of the Russian Sayan Mountains has the largest volume because of its great depth. The remaining lakes found in the steppe areas and in the Gobi Desert are usually smaller and shallow.
Lakes in Mongolia cover a total area of 16,003 km2. Out of the total number of lakes, 83.7% are small lakes with surface area less than 0.1 km2 (5.6% of the total area). There are 3,060 lakes with surface area 0.1 km2 and more."Surface Water of Mongolia", Gombo Davaa, Dambaravjaa Oyunbaatar, Michiaki Sugita
+ Lakes with an area of more than 50 km2 Rank Name Mongolian nameTraditional Mongolian nameAimagElevation,m Area,km2Maximumlength,kmAveragewidth,km Maximumwidth,kmAveragedepth,mMaximumdepth,mVolume,km3 1 Uvs Lake Увс нуур Uvs759 3,350 84 40 79 11.92039.6 2 Khövsgöl Lake Хөвсгөл нуур Khövsgöl 1,645 2,760 136 20.8 36.5 137.9 262 380.7 3 Khar-Us Lake Хар-Ус нуур Khovd 1,157 1,578 72.2 26 27 2.2 4.5 3.432 4 Khyargas Lake Хяргас нуур Uvs1,028.5 1,407 75 19 31 46.9 80 66.034 5 Buir Lake Буйр нуур Dornod581 615 40 1521 6.5 10.2 3.784 6 Khar Lake (Khovd) Хар нуур Khovd 1,132 575 37 16 24 4.2 7 2.422 7 Dörgön Lake Дөргөн нуур Khovd 1,132 305 24 13 17 14.3 27 4.367 8 Achit Lake Ачит нуур Uvs, Khovd 1,435 297 24 12 18 2.2 5 0.665 9 Böön Tsagaan Lake Бөөн Цагаан нуур Bayankhongor 1,312 252 24 11 19 9.3 16 2.355 10 Üüreg Lake Үүрэг нуур Uvs1,425 239 20 12 18 26.9 42 6.419 11 Telmen Lake Тэлмэн нуур Zavkhan1,789 194 28 12 16 13.8 27 2.671 12 Ulaan Lake Улаан нуур Ömnögovi1,008 175 - - - - - - 13 Sangiin Dalai Lake Сангийн Далай нуур Khövsgöl, Zavkhan 1,888 165 32 5 13 12.1 30 1.995 14 Airag Lake Айраг нуур Uvs1,030 143 18 9 13 5.7 10 0.820 15 Orog Lake Орог нуур Bayankhongor 1,217 140 31.8 2 7.7 3.0 5 0.420 16 Yakhi Lake Яхь нуур Dornod670 97 20.4 4.2 11.9 2.3 4 0.223 17 Khar Lake (Zavkhan) Хар нуур Zavkhan1,980 84.5 29.3 3.5 6.6 19.6 47 1.654 18 Tolbo Lake Толбо нуур Bayan-Ölgii2,080 84 21 4 7 6.8 12 0.571 19 Khurgan Lake Хурган нуур Bayan-Ölgii2,072 71 23.3 3 6 7.8 28 0.537 20 Dayan Lake Даян нуур Bayan-Ölgii2,232 67 18 4 9 2.3 4 0.157 21 Dood Tsagaan Nuur Доод Цагаан нуур Khövsgöl1,538 64 18 4 7 6.0 14 0.384 22 Bayan Lake Баян нуур Zavkhan 1,491 64 14 5 8 21.7 50 1.390 23 Khar-Us Lake (Uvs) Хар-Ус нуур Uvs1,574 63 19 5 7.8 5.2 8.2 0.3265 24 Oigon Lake Ойгон нуур Zavkhan1,664 61 18 3 8 3.4 8 0.207 25 Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake Тэрхийн Цагаан нуур Arkhangai2,060 61 16 4 6 6.0 20 0.369 26 Khoton Lake Хотон нуур Bayan-Ölgii2,084 50 22 2.3 4 26.8 58 1.341
References