Wuqia County is located between 39°24′- 40°17′ north latitude and 73°40′- 75°45′ east longitude. It is located in the west of Xinjiang, north of
Pamir Plateau, west of
Tarim Basin, and two major
mountain ranges of southern
Tianshan and
Kunlun junction. It is adjacent to
Artux City in the east,
Kashgar City in the south and
Akto County in the southwest, it is bordered by the
Kyrgyz Republic on the northwest with a boundary line of 410 kilometers. The county is in a temperate arid climate zone, the total area of the county is 19,118 square kilometers, with 10,667 square kilometers of various grasslands, of which 60% of excellent grasslands. There are two national first-level ports of Turugart and the Arkaxtam. The 309 provincial road connects the two ports with Kyrgyzstan, which is a shortcut for import and export trade between China and Central Asian countries. The county has a
dry climate and is prone to
earthquakes,
floods,
snow storms,
sandstorms and other frequent
natural disasters. From 1905 to the present, there have been 56 recorded earthquakes with a major earthquake of
magnitude 6.0 or above, and more than 20,000 earthquakes of
magnitude below 6.0 . Wuqia County has two major rivers, the Kizi River () and the Qakmark River (), with a surface water resource of 960 million cubic meters.
Terrain The terrain of Wuqia County is low in the southeast, high in the northwest and southwest, surrounded by mountains. It is a typical
mountainous terrain with an altitude of 1,760 - 6,146 meters and a horseshoe shape. The county is located in the wedge-shaped zone in the west of the Kashgar Delta (), which is a fold mountains of the
Miocene. The landform appears in the mountains of erosion. The mountain area accounts for 76% of the total area of Wuqia County, 14,535 square kilometers. The county is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the southeast is the Kashgar Delta plain.
Fauna and flora Wild animals in Wuqia County include the
snow leopard,
brown bear,
goitered gazelle,
wild boar,
marmot,
snow chicken, and
chukar partridge. Wild medicinal plants include
symphytum,
liquorice, ferula sinkiangensis,
ephedra sinica,
plantago,
codonopsis,
angelica,
dandelion,
astragalus,
cynomorium, and
wolfiporia extensa.
Mineral resources The mineral resources discovered in Wuqia County include
coal,
fossil oil,
oil shale,
iron,
copper,
lead,
zinc,
antimony,
gold,
phosphorus,
salt,
sulfur,
limestone,
gypsum, ceramic soil and so on. Among them, coal reserves account for more than half of Kizilsu's coal reserves. As of 2013, proven
lead and
zinc reserves of six million tons,
natural gas reserves of 40.9 billion cubic meters,
copper reserves of 600,000 tons,
coal 12.75 million tons,
gold 130 tons,
iron seven million tons,
limestone and
gypsum reserves of 100 million tons,
water energy resources one million kilowatts. In July 2014, a 100-ton super-large gold mine was discovered in the county. ==Climate==