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Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 4,500 meters, is the highest plateau in Asia. It is surrounded by imposing mountain ranges, and Mount Everest and K2 are the two highest summits in the world. Well-known as "the Roof of the World", Tibetan Plateau is also the world's highest and largest plateau, covering an area of about 2,500,000 square meters.#N#Stretching 1,000 kilometers from north to south and 2,500 kilometers from east to west, Tibetan Plateau bordered to the south by the Himalayan Range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains, to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, with the Pamirs and Karakorum Mountains in the west, and the western part of the Qinling Mountains and the Loess Plateau in the east and northeast.#N#Topographically, Tibetan Plateau can be divided into six parts: North Tibet Plateau, South Tibet Valley, Qaidam Basin, Qilian Mountains, Qinghai Plateau, and Sichuan-Tibet Alpine Canyon, including all parts of Tibet, and Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Sichuan, and parts of Yunnan in China, and part or all of Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.#N#General characteristics of the climate of the Tibetan Plateau are strong radiation, abundant sunshine, lower temperature, less accumulated temperature. The temperature decreases with the increase of altitude and latitude, with a large temperature difference. The weather is dry and wet on the plateau, with a lot of night rain. In winter, the weather is dry and cold, and there is strong wind. The weather in summer is cool and rainy, and there is much hail.
Mongolian Plateau has an elevation of about 1,000 to 1,500 meters. The highest point is in Altai, while the lowest point is in Hulunbuir. Covering an area of more than 3,200,000 square kilometers (1,200,000 sq mi), Mongolian Plateau is divided between China, Mongolia and Russia, bounded by the Greater Khingan Mountains in the east, the Yin Mountains to the south, the Altai Mountains to the west and the Sayan and Khentii mountains to the north.#N#Most area of the Mongolian Plateau is ancient tableland, with only mountainous areas in the northwest, a vast Gobi in the southeast, and large hills in the middle and east. The terrain gradually decreases from west to east. There are many rivers and lakes on the plateau, and most of the lakes are distributed in the northwest region. In the south, there are few rivers and lakes.#N#The Mongolian Plateau has a temperate continental climate, with an average annual rainfall of about 200 mm (8 inches). The average temperature in the hottest and coldest months differs greatly. The strong winds and rapid weather changes are the biggest characteristics of the climate on Mongolian Plateau.
Iranian Plateau, or Persian Plateau, is 2,500 kilometers long from east to west, 1,500 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of about 2.7 million square kilometers . It's located between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains in the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south and the Indo-Gangetic Plains to the east in Pakistan.
The Tibetan Plateau was formed and continues to be formed as the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide. The two plates started colliding about 70 million years ago.
The Tibetan Plateau is home to multiple saline and freshwater glacial lakes. There are about 1,500 large and small lakes that total an area, in 2008, of 9,337 square miles (24,183 square kilometers).
One of the world’s highest salt lakes is Nam Co which has a lake surface elevation of 4,718 meters (15,480 feet). The dimensions of Nam Co are roughly 49 by 16 miles (79 by 25 kilometers).
The southern rim of the Tibetan Plateau is the Himalayas, a mountain that range includes the world’s largest mountain, Mount Everest.
Located in the middle of the Tibetan Plateau, Lhasa is one of the world’s highest elevation cities at 11,975 feet (3,650 meters). Lhasa is also the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China.