Chon Lake from Mount Paektu.

Chon Lake is located on Paektu, the sacred mountain of the Korean Revolution, belonging to the Samjiyon city of Ryanggang province. It is a lake formed by the stagnation of waters in the crater. From the end of the first Neozoic period to date there has been a volcanic eruption four times.

The surrounding peaks of the lake are made up of basalt, trachyte, rhyolite, etc. Mount Paektu is 2,750 high and the lake 2,190.15 meters above sea level, respectively. The lake has 9.17 square kilometers of water surface, 14.4 kilometers of perimeter, 384 meters of maximum depth and 1 955 million cubic meters of flow. Its source consists mainly of rain and meltwater and partially magmatic waters. Its green waters flow into the Amnok, the Tuman of Korea and the Songhua of China rivers and are frozen from the first half of December to the middle of June of the following year, except where the hot springs spring. The average thickness of the ice is 1.5 meters.

The contour of the lake is covered with snow from the second half of September to the end of June of the following year. The average annual temperature of the lake and its waters are 4.9 ℃ below zero and 2.2 ℃, respectively

On its shores there are several hot springs such as Paektu and Paekam and plants, birds, mammals and insects of 168, 16, 6 and 110 species grow, respectively, including Salvelinus malma and Carassius auratus, artificially acclimatized fish.

Lake Chon is preserved and protected as a natural monument, as it is the deepest in the country and has a very peculiar appearance.