Abstract: The Baihu Lake is located in the core area of the Kanas National Nature Reserve, where it is an untraversed region, so the natural ecological environment in its watershed is remained. Because the lake is recharged directly by glacier melt water, the environment there can sensitively reflect the actuality of regional climate change. A survey on the basic hydrologic features, water quality and biology in the core area of the nature reserve was carried out in August 2010. The results could help us to know the characteristics of natural ecological evolution under different climate background, and provide a scientific basis for conserving and managing the ecological environment and adapting climate change in the future. The surveyed results revealed that the maximum water depth of the lake was 137 m, the water area was 9 km², and the storage volume of the lake was 4.1×10⁸ m³. The water salinity, hardness and alkalinity were 32.9 mg•L-1, 17.1 mg•L^-1 and 18.2 mg•L^-1 respectively. Lake water was slightly alkaline with a pH value of 8.3. The water chemistry of the Baihu Lake was similar to that of the Kanas Lake, but the water color of these two lakes was considerably different. The LEO1530VP scanning electron microscopy and INA C300 Xray spectrometer analysis were used in the study, and the results showed that the white suspended particles in water were mainly composed of quartz minerals. In conclusion, the formation of white water color of the Baihu Lake was from three aspects: the materials from the headstream, river hydrodynamic power and lake water media.

Key words: Baihu Lake, water color, water quality, water volume, kanas national nature reserve zones, Altay Mountains, Xinjiang