Guozha Lake

Guozha Lake
Kotra Tso
Guozha Lake viewed from space
Guozha Lake
LocationRutog County, Tibet, China
Coordinates35°1′53″N 81°5′11″E / 35.03139°N 81.08639°E / 35.03139; 81.08639
Basin countriesChina
Max. length30.4 km (19 mi)
Max. width11.6 km (7 mi)
Surface area252.6 km2 (100 sq mi)
Max. depth81.9 m (269 ft)
Shore length1104 km (65 mi)
Surface elevation5,080 m (16,667 ft)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Kotra Tso (Tibetan: ཀོ་བཀྲ་མཚ, Wylie: ko bkra mtsha, THL: ko tra tsa), or Guozha Lake (Chinese: 郭扎错; pinyin: Guō zhā cuò), previously called Lake Lighten, is a glacial lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the western Kunlun Mountains to the northwest of Bangda Lake, not far from the regional border with Xinjiang. Located at an altitude of 5080 metres, it covers an area of 244 square kilometres with a maximum depth of 81.9 metres and has a drainage basin containing 62 glaciers.

India's claim line in Aksai Chin runs along the water-parting line of Lake Lighten and the Amtogor Lake to the west. However, China has claimed the whole of Aksai Chin in 1959.