the basin is part of a combination of raised lands and hollows located throughout the tannu-ola and altai mountainous regions. here, the world's most northern desert meets the northern hemisphere's most southern tundra zone. an area of , around three quarters of which lies in mongolia, was designated biosphere reserve in 1997, and a partly overlapping zone of around the same size was designated unesco world heritage in 2003. the mongolian part of the lake and its immediate surroundings were further adopted as ramsar wetland in 2004.