Aibi Lake is a rift lake

Rift lake

A rift lake is a lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, an area of extensional tectonics in the continental crust. They are often found within rift valleys and may be very deep...

 in north west China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, near the border to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. Lying at the southeast end of the Dzungarian Gate

Dzungarian Gate

The Dzungarian Gate is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between China and Central Asia. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from Manchuria to Afghanistan, over a distance of three thousand miles." Given its association...

, it is the catchment

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 center of the Dzungarian Basin, has a size of over 1000 square kilomenters (400 square miles) and an average depth of less than 2 meters (6½ feet). Due to the high salt concentration (87 g/L) of its water, no plants or fish live in the actual lake, though many kinds of fish do live in the mouths of its source rivers.

In August 2007, the Aibi Lake wetland was designated National Nature Reserve by the Chinese government.

The lake now only has 500 km2 surface