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The Gobi Desert lies in the territory of People's Republic of China and Mongolia.

The part of Gobi Desert in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China

Gobi Desert landscape in Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia.

Bactrian camels by the sand dunes of Khongoryn Els, Gurvansaikhan NP, Mongolia.

The Gobi (Chinese: 戈壁(沙漠) Gēbì (Shāmò); Mongolian: Говь, Govi or Gov', meaning, gravel-covered plain) is the largest desert region in Asia. It covers area in China and southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is made up of several distinct ecological and geographic regions based on variations in climate and topography. This desert is the fourth largest in the world. Image File history File links GobiDessertReliefMap. ... Image File history File links GobiDessertReliefMap. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 521 KB)Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 521 KB)Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. ... Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ Öbür Mongghul-un Öbertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: Nèi Měnggǔ Zìzhìqū) is an Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 490 pixelsFull resolution (1683 × 1031 pixel, file size: 336 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gobi Desert Ömnögovi Province ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 490 pixelsFull resolution (1683 × 1031 pixel, file size: 336 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gobi Desert Ömnögovi Province ... ÖmnögovÄ­ aymag (Өмнөговь аймаг) is one of the 21 provinces of Mongolia. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 444 pixelsFull resolution (1755 × 975 pixel, file size: 357 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gobi Desert Bactrian Camel Gobi Gurvansaikhan... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 444 pixelsFull resolution (1755 × 975 pixel, file size: 357 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gobi Desert Bactrian Camel Gobi Gurvansaikhan... Binomial name Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758 The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of eastern Asia. ... This article is about sand formations. ... A ger with the Gurvansaikhan Mountains behind Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park is a national park in southern Mongolia. ... This article is about arid terrain. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... Katun River in the Altay Mountains The Altay Mountains (Russian: ; Mongolian: , Altai) are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh, Ob and Yenisei have their sources. ... Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Sichuan Province of China lie on the Tibetan Plateau. ... The North China Plain (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), also called the Central Plain(s) (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is based on the deposits of the Huang He (Yellow River) and is the largest alluvial plain of eastern Asia. ... This is a list of deserts in the world ordered by area. ...

The Gobi is most notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road. Expansion of the Mongol Empire Historical map of the Mongol Empire (1300~1405), the gray area is Timurid dynasty. ... For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ...

The Gobi is a rain shadow desert formed by the Himalaya range blocking rain-carrying clouds from reaching the Gobi. For the Australian television series see Rain Shadow (TV series). ...

Geography

The Gobi measures over 1,500 km (932 mi) from southwest to northeast and 800 km (497 mi) from north to south. The desert is widest in the west, along the line joining the Baghrash Kol and the Lop Nor (87°-89° east). It occupies an arc of land 1,295,000 km² (500,002 sq mi)^[1] in area, making it fourth largest in the world and Asia's largest. Much of the Gobi is not sandy but is covered with bare rock. “km” redirects here. ... “Miles” redirects here. ... Lop Nur (alternately Lop Nor or Lo-pu po) is a group of small salt lakes and marshes in the desert in Malan, Xinjiang, in Northwestern China. ... Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of SI unit of surface area square metre, one of the SI derived units. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ...

The Gobi has several different Chinese names, including 沙漠 (shāmò, actually a generic term for deserts in general) and 旱海 (hànhǎi, dry sea). In its broadest definition, the Gobi includes the long stretch of desert and semidesert country extending from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° east, to the Greater Khingan Mountains, 116°-118° east, on the border of Manchuria; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan, and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun Shan, Altun Shan, and Qilian shan ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau, on the south. Located in Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains are formed by the junction of the worlds greatest mountain ranges, a geologic structural knot from which the great Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush mountain systems radiate. ... The Greater Khingan Range (Simplified Chinese: 大兴安岭; Traditional Chinese: 大興安嶺), also called the Greater Hingan Range or Greater Hinggan Range, is a volcanic mountain range in Inner Mongolia, northeastern China. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Lake Gornyh Duhov Western Sayan, Ergaki mountains The Sayan Mountains (Russian: , Sayany) are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Asia. ... The Yablonoi Mountains or Yablonovyy Mountains are a mountain range in Siberia. ... Region containing Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun mountain range (崑崙山) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3000 km. ... Altyn-Tagh, or Astyn-Tagh (Chinese: 阿尔金山), also called Altun Shan, is one of the chief constituent ranges of the Kunlun in Central Asia, which separates Tibet from Xinjiang and the Gobi Desert. ... The Qilian mountain range is located in the south of the Gansu area of western China. ...

A relatively large area on the east side of the Greater Khingan range, between the upper waters of the Songhua (Sungari) and the upper waters of the Liao-ho, is also reckoned to belong to the Gobi by conventional usage. On the other hand, geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi region (as defined above), the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami (Kumul) as forming a separate and independent desert, called the Taklamakan Desert. The Songhua River (松花江 song4 hua1 jiang1) is the largest tributary of the Amur River, flowing about 1,800 km from Changbai Mountains. ... A geographer is a crazy psycho whose area of study is geocrap, the pseudoscientific study of Earths physical environment and human habitat and the study of boring students to death. ... For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ... For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ... Kumul or Hami (Uyghur: قۇمۇل/K̢umul; Chinese: 哈密; Pinyin: Hāmì) is an oasis in Xinjiang (China); it is also the name of a modern city and the sourrounding district. ... Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert from space, June 25, 2005 The Taklamakan Desert (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

The Nemegt Basin in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert (in Mongolia) is famous for its dinosaur fossil treasures. Map of Mongolia, showing the Ömnögovi Province. ... Orders & Suborders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Thyreophora Ornithopoda Marginocephalia Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ...

Climate

The Gobi desert is a cold desert, and it is not uncommon to see frost and occasionally snow on its dunes. Besides being quite far north, it is also roughly 900 meters (2,953 ft) above sea level, which further contributes to its low temperatures. An average of approximately 194 millimeters (7.6 in) of rain falls per year in the Gobi. Additional moisture reaches parts of the Gobi in winter as snow is blown by the wind from the Siberian Steppes. These winds cause the Gobi to reach extremes of temperature ranging from –40°C (-15°F) in Winter to +50°C in Summer. ^[2]

Climate (as of 1911)

The climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, combined with rapid changes of temperature, not only through the year but even within 24 hours (by as much as 32 °C or 58 °F). For other uses, see Temperature (disambiguation). ...

Even in southern Mongolia the thermometer goes down as low as -32.8 °C (-27 °F), and in Ala-shan it rises as high as 37 °C (98.6 °F) in July. September 2004 Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар, [UlaÉ£an BaÉ£atar]) in Mongolian, is the capital of Mongolia. ... A clinical mercury thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient, using a variety of different principles. ...

Average winter minimals are a frigid -40 °C (-40 °F) while summertime temperatures are warm to hot, highs range up to 50 °C (112 °F). Most of the precipitation falls during the summer.

Although the southeast monsoons reach the southeast parts of the Gobi, the area throughout this region is generally characterized by extreme dryness, especially during the winter. Hence, the icy sandstorms and snowstorms of spring and early summer plus early January (winter) For other uses, see Monsoon (disambiguation). ... Look up sandstorm in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A winter storm is a storm where the dominant forms of precipitation are forms that occur only at cold temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice to form. ...

Conservation, ecology, economy

The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossil finds, including the first dinosaur eggs. In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. ...

These deserts and the surrounding regions sustain many animals, including black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, bactrian camels and sandplovers, and are occasionally visited by snow leopards, brown bears, and wolves. The desert features a number of drought-adapted shrubs such as gray sparrow's saltwort, gray sagebrush, and low grasses such as needle grass and bridlegrass. Binomial name Gazella subgutturosa (Güldenstädt, 1780) The Goitered, Black_tailed or Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) is a gazelle found in a large area of central Asia, including part of Iran in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi desert. ... Polecat may refer to: One of several species of weasel: European polecat marbled polecat steppe polecat Skunks, or other members of the Mephitidae family Lineman (occupation), sometimes colloquially referred to as polecats The Polecats, a 1980s British new wave/rockabilly band Polecat (band) Typical Barbershop Songs Lockheed Martin Polecat, an... Binomial name Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758 The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of eastern Asia. ... Genera Pluvialis Charadrius Thinornis Elseyornis Peltohyas Anarhynchus Phegornis Oreopholus Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. ... Binomial name (Schreber, 1775) Range map Synonyms Uncia uncia The Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia), sometimes known as the ounce, is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia from Afghanistan to Lake Baikal and eastern Tibet. ... Bears are big and have big ass, thats why bears are hot, and thats why cats are not. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call...

The area is vulnerable to trampling by livestock and off-road vehicles (human impacts are greater in the eastern Gobi Desert, where rainfall is heavier and may sustain livestock). In Mongolia, grasslands have been degraded by goats, raised by nomadic herders as source of cashmere wool. Economic trends of livestock privatization and the collapse of the urban economy have caused people to return to rural lifestyles, a movement contrary to urbanization. This movement has resulted in a great increase of nomadic herder population and livestock raising. Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... Kashmere redirects here. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ...

Large copper and gold deposits are located at Oyuu Tolgoi, about 80 kilometers from the Chinese border into Mongolia and the feasibility of setting up a mining operation is being investigated.[1] Oyuu Tolgoi (Mongolian: , also Oyu Tolgoi, Turquoise Hill) is location of large copper and gold deposits in Mongolia located about 235 km E of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad in Khanbogd sum (district) of Ömnögovi Province in southern Mongolia. ...

Desertification

Currently, the Gobi desert is expanding at an alarming rate, in a process known as desertification. The expansion is particularly rapid on the southern edge into China, which has seen 3,600 km² (1,390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year by the Gobi Desert. This loss of farmland has caused an estimated $50 billion in losses each year for China's economy. Dust storms, which were once a rarity, are springing up all over China, and could cause even further damage to China's agriculture economy. For the labor union vitiation procedure, see NLRB election procedures#Decertification elections. ...

The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities, notably deforestation, overgrazing, overconsumption of water resources, and global warming. China has made various plans to try to slow the expansion of the desert, which have met with some small degree of success, but usually have no major impact. The most recent plan involves the planting of the Green Wall of China, a huge ring of newly-planted forests that the Chinese government hopes will act as a buffer against further expansion. This article is about the process of deforestation in the environment. ... // In the dictionary and agriculture, overgrazing is when plants are exposed to grazing for too long, or without sufficient recovery periods. ... Global warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earths near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. ... The Green Wall of China will be a human-planted forest in China, designed to hold back the Gobi Desert. ...

Ecoregions of the Gobi

The Gobi, broadly defined, can be divided into five distinct dry ecoregions. An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ...

The 'Eastern Gobi desert steppe' is the easternmost of the Gobi ecoregions, covering an area of 281,800 km² (108,804 sq mi). It extends from the Inner Mongolian Plateau in China northward into Mongolia. It includes the Yin Mountains and many low-lying areas with salt pans and small ponds. It is bounded by the Mongolian-Manchurian grassland to the north, the Yellow River Plain to the southeast, and the Alashan Plateau semi-desert to the southeast and east. Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N i Měnggǔ Z qū) is an Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other meanings, see Plateau (disambiguation). ... The Yin Mountains (Yin Shan or Yinshan) are mountains in the Eastern Gobi Desert steppe of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. ... The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland, also known as the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe, is a temperate grassland of Mongolia and northern China. ...

The Alashan Plateau semi-desert lies west and southwest of the Eastern Gobi desert steppe. It consists of the desert basins and low mountains lying between the Gobi Altay range on the north, the Helan Mountains to the southeast, and the Qilian Mountains and northeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau on the southwest. The Qilian mountain range is located in the south of the Gansu area of western China. ...

The Gobi Lakes Valley desert steppe ecoregion lies north of Alashan Plateau semi-desert, between the Gobi Altay range to the south and the Khangai Mountains to the north. The Khangai mountains (mongolian , Khangain nuruu) are a mountain range in central Mongolia, some 400 kilometres south-west of Ulaanbaatar. ...

The Junggar Basin semi-desert includes the desert basin lying between the Altay mountains on the north and the Tian Shan range on the south. It includes the northern portion of China's Xinjiang province and extends into the southeastern corner of Mongolia. The Alashan Plateau semi-desert lies to the east, and the Emin Valley steppe to the west, on the China-Kazakhstan border. Dzungaria (also Junggar, Jungaria, Sungaria, Zungaria) is a physical region, covering approximately 777,000 km², within the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China. ... The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山; Pinyin: Tiān Shān; celestial mountains) mountain range is located in Central Asia, in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of western China. ... Located between the China-Kazakhstan border it is about 65,000 square kilometers. ...

The Tian Shan range separates the Junggar Basin semi-desert from the Taklamakan Desert, which is a low, sandy desert basin surrounded by the high mountain ranges of the Tibetan Plateau to the south and the Pamirs to the west. The Taklamakan Desert ecoregion includes the Desert of Lop. The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山; Pinyin: Tiān Shān; celestial mountains), also commonly spelled Tien Shan, and known as Tangri Tagh (celestial mountains or mountains of the spirits) in the Uyghur language, is a mountain range located in Central Asia. ... Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert from space, June 25, 2005 The Taklamakan Desert (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... A photograph of Ismail Samani Peak (then known as Peak Communism) taken in 1989. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Eastern Gobi desert steppe

Here the surface is extremely diversified, although there are no great differences in vertical elevation. Between Ulaanbaatar (48° N 107° E) and the little lake of Iren-dubasu-nor (43°45′N, 111°50′E ) the surface is greatly eroded, and consists of broad flat depressions and basins separated by groups of flat-topped mountains of relatively low elevation (150-180 m), through which archaic rocks crop out as crags and isolated rugged masses. The floors of the depressions lie mostly between 900-1000 m above sea-level. Farther south, between Iren-dutiasu-nor and the Hwang-ho comes a region of broad tablelands alternating with flat plains, the latter ranging at altitudes of 1000-1100 m and the former at 1070-1200 m. The slopes of the plateaus are more or less steep, and are sometimes penetrated by "bays" of the lowlands. As the border-range of the Hyangan is approached, the country steadily rises up to 1370 m and then to 1630 m. Here small lakes frequently fill the depressions, though the water in them is generally salt or brackish. Both here and for 320 km (199 mi) south of Ulaanbaatar, streams are frequent and grass grows more or less abundantly. There is, however, through all the central parts, until the bordering mountains are reached, an utter absence of trees and shrubs. Clay and sand are the predominant formations, the watercourses, especially in the north, being frequently excavated 2-3 m deep, and in many places in the flat, dry valleys or depressions farther south beds of loess, 5-6 m thick, are exposed. West of the route from Ulaanbaatar to Kalgan the country presents approximately the same general features, except that the mountains are not so irregularly scattered in groups but have more strongly defined strikes, mostly east to west, west-north-west to east-south-east, and west-south-west to east-north-east. For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Kalgan can refer to: A city in China, Zhangjiakou A planet in Isaac Asimovs Foundation series, Kalgan (Foundation universe) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The altitudes too are higher, those of the lowlands ranging from 1000-1700 m, and those of the ranges from 200-500 m higher, though in a few cases they reach altitudes of 2400 m. The elevations do not, however, form continuous chains, but make up a congeries of short ridges and groups rising from a common base and intersected by a labyrinth of ravines, gullies, glens and basins. But the tablelards, built up of the horizontal red deposits of the Han-gai (Ohruchev's Gobi formation) which are characteristic of the southern parts of eastern Mongolia, are absent here or occur only in one locality, near the Shara-muren river, and are then greatly intersected by gullies or dry watercourses. Here there is, however, a great dearth of water, no streams, no lakes, no wells, arid precipitation falls but seldom. The prevailing winds blow from the west and northwest and the pall of dust overhangs the country as in the Takla Makan and the desert of Lop. Characteristic of the flora are wild garlic, Kalidium gracile, wormwood, saxaul, Nitraria schoberi, Caragana, Ephedra, saltwort and the grass Lasiagrostis splendens. The taana wild onion Allium polyrrhizum is the main browse eaten by many herd animals, and Mongolians claim that this is essential to produce the correct, slightly hazelnut-like flavour of camel airag (fermented milk). Look up Wormwood in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The saxaul, sometimes sacsaoul or saksaul (scientific name Haloxylon ammondendron), is a plant belonging to the family of Chenopodiaceae (although it is also placed in the Amaranthaceae). ... Species See text Caragana is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to Asia and eastern Europe. ... Species See text. ... Subfamilies There are 7 subfamilies: Subfamily Arundinoideae Subfamily Bambusoideae Subfamily Centothecoideae Subfamily Chloridoideae Subfamily Panicoideae Subfamily Pooideae Subfamily Stipoideae The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, also known as Gramineae. ... Species Some important species: Allium acuminatum - tapertip onion Allium ampeloprasum var. ... Kumis (called airag by the Mongolians), is a traditional drink of the people of Central Asia. ...

This great desert country of Gobi is crossed by several trade routes, some of which have been in use for thousands of years. Among the most important are those from Kalgan on the frontier of China to Ulaanbaatar (960 km (597 mi)), from Jiuquan (in Gansu) to Hami 670 km (416 mi) from Hami to Beijing (2,000 km (1,243 mi)), from Hohhot to Hami and Barkul, and from Lanzhou (in Gansu) to Hami. Jiuquan (酒泉) is a prefecture-level city in the westernmost part of the Gansu province in China. ... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Hohhot (Chinese: 呼和浩特; Pinyin: HÅ«héhàotè; Mongolian: Ð¥Ó©Ñ… хот), occasionally spelled Huhehot or Huhhot, is the capital city of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region in the Peoples Republic of China. ... Lanzhou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lan-chou; Postal map spelling: Lanchow) is the capital of and a prefecture-level city in the Gansu province, China. ...

Ala Shan Plateau semi-desert

The southwestern portion of the Gobi, known also as the Hsi-tau and the Little Gobi, fills the space between the great north loop of the Yellow River on the east, the Ejin River on the west, and the Qilian Mountains and narrow rocky chain of Longshou (Ala-shan), 3200-3500 m in altitude, on the southwest. The Ordos Desert, which covers the northeastern portion of the Ordos Plateau, in the great north loop of the Huang He, is part of this ecoregion. It belongs to the middle basin of the three great depressions into which Potanin divides the Gobi as a whole. "Topographically," says Przhevalsky, "it is a perfectly level plain, which in all probability once formed the bed of a huge lake or inland sea." The data upon which he bases this conclusion are the level area of the region as a whole, the hard saldgine clay and the sand-strewn surface, and lastly the salt lakes which occupy its lowest parts. For hundreds of kilometers there is nothing to be seen but bare sands; in some places they continue so far without a break that the Mongols call them Tengger (i.e. sky). These vast expanses are absolutely waterless, nor do any oases relieve the unbroken stretches of yellow sand which alternate with equally vast areas of saline clay or, nearer the foot of the mountains, with barren shingle. Although on the whole a level country with a general altitude of 1000 to 1500 m, this section, like most other parts of the Gobi, is crowned by a chequered network of hills and broken ranges going up 300 m higher. The vegetation is confined to a few varieties of bushes and a dozen kinds of grasses and herbs, the most conspicuous being saxaul (Haloxylon ammondendron) and Agriophyllum gobicum. The others include prickly convolvulus, field wormwood (Artemisia campestris), acacia, Inula ammophila, Sophora flavescens, Convolvulus ammanii, Peganum and Astragalus, but all dwarfed, deformed and starved. The fauna consists of little else except antelopes, the wolf, fox, hare, hedgehog, marten, numerous lizards and a few birds, e.g. the sandgrouse, lark, stonechat, sparrow, crane, Henderson's Ground Jay (Podoces hendersoni), Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), and Crested Lark (Galerida cristata). The only human inhabitants of Ala-shan are the Torguud Mongols. For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ... The Qilian mountain range is located in the south of the Gansu area of western China. ... Ordos Desert 1912 The Ordos Desert (Chinese: 鄂尔多斯沙漠; Pinyin: ÈěrduōsÄ« Shāmò) is a desert and steppe region lying on a plateau in the south of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, also spelled Przewalski and Prjevalsky (Russian: ) (April 12, 1839—November 1, 1888 (Gregorian calendar)), was a Russian geographer and explorer in central and eastern Asia. ... Species See text Bindweeds are annual or herbaceous perennial vines in the genus Convolvulus, in the Morning Glory family Convolvulaceae. ... For other uses, see Acacia (disambiguation). ... Inula is a genus of flowers in the Asteraceae family. ... Species About 60-70 species; see text: Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. ... Peganum is a genus under the family Zygophyllaceae. ... Species See text. ... Binomial name Hume, 1871 The Mongolian Ground-jay or Hendersons Ground-jay (Podoces hendersoni) is a species of bird in the Corvidae family. ... Species Podoces biddulphi Podoces hendersoni Podoces panderi Podoces pleskei The ground jays or ground choughs belong to a very distinct and interesting group of the passerine order of birds in the genus Podoces of the crow family corvidae that inhabit high altitude semi-desert areas from central Asia to Mongolia. ... Binomial name Eremophila alpestris (Linnaeus, 1758) The Shore Lark (Eremophila alpestris), called the Horned Lark in North America, breeds across much of North America, northernmost Europe and Asia and in the mountains of southeast Europe. ... Binomial name Galerida cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) The Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, breeds across most of temperate Eurasia from Portugal to northeast China and eastern India, and in Africa south to Niger. ... Torguud people was originated from the royal guards of great khans of Mongol empire. ...

The Gobi is also home to the rare Bactrian camel. This eats snow to maintain its fluid level and must limit itself to 10 litres a day of snow if it is not to prove fatal. Poaching has made these animals highly fearful of people.^[2]

Junggar Basin semi-desert

The Yulduz valley or valley of the Haidag-gol (43° N 83°-86° E) is a mini desert enclosed by two prominent members of the Shanashen Trahen Osh mountain range, namely the chucis and the kracenard pine rallies, running perpendicular and far from one another. As they proceed south they transend and transpose, sweeping back on east and west, respectively so as to leave room for the Baghrash-kol. These two ranges mark the northern and the southern edges respectively of a great swelling, which extends eastward for nearly twenty degrees of longitude. On its northern side the Chol-tagh descends steeply, and its foot is fringed by a string of deep depressions, ranging from Lukchun (130 m (427 ft) below sea level) to Hami (850 m (2,789 ft) above sea-level). To the south of the Kuruk-tagh lie the desert of Lop (= desert of Lop Nur), the desert of Kum-tagh, and the valley of the Bulunzir-gol. To this great swelling, which arches up between the two border-ranges of the Chol-tagh and Kuruk-tagh, the Mongols give the name of Ghashuun-Gobi or Salt Desert. It is some 130 to 160 km across from north to south, and is traversed by a number of minor parallel ranges, ridges and chains of hills, and down its middle runs a broad stony valley, 40-80 km wide, at an elevation of 900 to 1370 m. The Chol-tagh, which reaches an average altitude of 1800 m, is absolutely sterile, and its northern foot rests upon a narrow belt of barren sand, which leads down to the depressions mentioned above. Kumul or Hami (Uyghur: Ù‚Û‡Ù…Û‡Ù„/KÌ¢umul; Chinese: 哈密; Pinyin: Hāmì) is an oasis in Xinjiang (China); it is also the name of a modern city and the sourrounding district. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Lop Nur (ear-shaped) from space, September 1992 Lop Nur (Lake Lop; alternately Lop Nor, Lo-pu po or Taitema Lake) is a group of small, now seasonal salt lakes and marshes between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China... For other uses, see Mongols (disambiguation). ...

The Kuruk-tagh is the greatly disintegrated, denuded and wasted relic of a mountain range which formerly was of incomparably greater magnitude. In the west, between Baghrash-kol and the Tarim, it consists of two, possibly of three, principal ranges, which, although broken in continuity, run generally parallel to one another, and embrace between them numerous minor chains of heights. These minor ranges, together with the principal ranges, divide the region into a series of long; narrow valleys, mostly parallel to one another and to the enclosing mountain chains, which descend like terraced steps, on the one side towards the depression of Lukchun and on the other towards the desert of Lop. In many cases these latitudinal valleys are barred transversely by ridges or spurs, generally elevations en masse of the bottom of the valley. Where such elevations exist, there is generally found, on the east side of the transverse ridge, a cauldron-shaped depression, which some time or other has been the bottom of a former lake, but is now nearly a dry salt-basin. The surface configuration is in fact markedly similar to that which occurs in the inter-mount latitudinal valleys of the Kunlun Mountains. The hydrography of the Ghashiun-Gobi and the Kuruk-tagh is determined by these chequered arrangements of the latitudinal valleys. Most of the principal streams, instead of flowing straight down these valleys, cross them diagonally and only turn west after they have cut their way through one or more of the transverse barrier ranges. To the highest range on the great swelling Gruni-Grzhimailo gives the name of Tuge-tau, its altitude being 2,700 m (8,858 ft) above the level of the sea and some 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above the crown of the swelling itself. This range he considers to belong to the Choltagh system, whereas Sven Hedin would assign it to the Kuruk-tagh. This last, which is pretty certainly identical with the range of Kharateken-ula (also known as the Kyzyl-sanghir, Sinir, and Singher Mountains), that overlooks the southern shore of the Baghrash-kol, though parted from it by the drift-sand desert of Ak-bel-kum (White Pass Sands), has at first a westnorthwest to eastsoutheast strike, but it gradually curves round like a scimitar towards the eastnortheast and at the same time gradually decreases in elevation. In 91° east, while the principal range of the Kuruk-tagh system wheels to the eastnortheast, four of its subsidiary ranges terminate, or rather die away somewhat suddenly, on the brink of a long narrow depression (in which Sven Hedin sees a northeast bay of the former great Central Asian lake of Lop-nor), having over against them the écheloned terminals of similar subordinate ranges of the Pe-shan (Boy-san) system (see below). The Kuruk-tagh is throughout a relatively low, but almost completely barren range, being entirely destitute of animal life, save for hares, antelopes and wild camels, which frequent its few small, widely scattered oases. The vegetation, which is confined to these same relatively favoured spots, is of the scantiest and is mainly confined to bushes of saxaul (Haloxylon), Anabasis, reeds (kamish), tamarisks, poplars, and Ephedra The Tarim River (Mandarin Dayan) is the principal river of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the Peoples Republic of China. ... Region containing Kunlun Mountains Karakash River in the Western Kunlun Shan, seen from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway Peak in Kunlun range View of Western Kunlun Shan from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway The Kunlun mountain range (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending... Hydrography focuses on the measurement of physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. ... Sven Hedin. ... The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. ... Species Tamarix africana Tamarix anglica Tamarix aphylla Tamarix canariensis Tamarix chinensis Tamarix dioica Tamarix gallica Tamarix hispida Tamarix indica Tamarix juniperina Tamarix parviflora Tamarix ramosissima Tamarix tetrandra The genus Tamarix, known as tamarisk or (US) saltcedar, comprises about 50-60 species of deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees growing... This article is about woody plants of the genus Populus. ... Ephedra in medicine. ...

European exploration up to 1911

The Gobi had a long history of human habitation, mostly by nomadic peoples. By the early 20th century the region was under the nominal control of China, and inhabited mostly by Mongols, Uyghurs, and Kazakhs. The Gobi desert as a whole was only very imperfectly known to outsiders, information being confined to the observations which individual travellers had made from their respective itineraries across the desert. Amongst the European explorers who contributed to early 20th century understanding of the Gobi, the most important were: Honorary guard of Mongolia. ... For the language spoken by this ethnic group, see Uyghur language. ... Language(s) Kazakh, Russian (and/or languages in country of residence) Religion(s) Sunni Islam The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs; Kazakh: Қазақтар IPA: ; Russian: Казахи; the English name is transliterated from Russian) are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of...

• Jean-François Gerbillon (1688-1698)
• Eberhard Isbrand Ides (1692-1694)
• Lorenz Lange (1727-1728 and 1736)
• Fuss and Alexander G. von Bunge (1830-1831)
• Hermann Fritsche (1868-1873)
• Pavlinov and Z.L. Matusovski (1870)
• Ney Elias (1872-1873)
• Nikolai Przhevalsky (1870-1872 and 1876-1877)
• Zosnovsky (1875)
• Mikhail V. Pevtsov (1878)
• Grigory N. Potanin (1877 and 1884-1886)
• Count Béla Széchenyi and Lajos Lóczy (1879-1880)
• The brothers G. E. Grumm-Grshimailo (1889-1890)and ? Grumm-Grshimailo.
• Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov (1893-1894 and 1899-1900)
• Vsevolod I. Roborovsky (1894)
• Vladimir Obruchev (1894- 1896)
• Karl Josef Futterer and Dr. Holderer (1896)
• Charles-Etienne Bonin (1896 and 1899)
• Sven Hedin (1897 and 1900-1901)
• K. Bogdanovich (1898)
• Ladyghin (1899-1900) and Katsnakov (1899-1900)

Jean-François Gerbillon (4 June 1654, Verdun – 27 March 1707, Peking, China) was a french missionary, who worked in China. ... Eberhard Isbrand Ides (1657 - 1708) was a Danish traveller and diplomat. ... Lorenz Lange was a Swedish explorer and diplomat in the 18th century. ... Alexander Georg von Bunge (September 29, 1803 – June 7, 1890) was German-Russian zoologist. ... Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, also spelled Przewalski and Prjevalsky (Russian: ) (April 12, 1839—November 1, 1888 (Gregorian calendar)), was a Russian geographer and explorer in central and eastern Asia. ... Grigorii Efimovitsch Grumm-Grshimailo,(Г.Е. Грумм-Гржимайло) also Grum-Grshmailo, Groum-Grshmailo (1860—1936) was a Russian entomologist, best known for his expeditions to Central Asia (Pamir, Buchara, Tian-Shan, Kan-su und Kuku-nor) in 1893 and 1895. ... Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov (October 3, 1863 near Smolensk - September 26, 1935, Peterhof) was a Russian explorer who continued the studies of Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalskiy in Mongolia and Tibet. ... Vladimir Obruchev. ... Sven Hedin. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gobi Desert

• Geography of China
• Geography of Mongolia
• Battle of Ikh Bayan
• List of deserts by area

For the modern political entities, see Geography of the Peoples Republic of China and Geography of Taiwan. ... The map showing the major cities and the neighbouring countries of Mongolia The southern part of the territory of Mongolia is desert. ... Combatants Northern Xiongnu Han Dynasty Commanders Northern Chanyu (unnamed chief) Dou Xian Southern Chanyu Deng Hong Strength Unknown 46,000 cavalry (30,000 Southern Xiongnu and 8,000 Qiang) Casualties 13,000 dead, 200,000 surrendered and 1,000,000 livestocks captured Minimal The Battle of Ikh Bayan, was a... This is a list of deserts in the world ordered by area. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Further reading

External links

• Map, from "China the Beautiful"
• Flickr: Photos tagged with gobi
• Gobi Desert in Google Earth Requires Google Earth

v • d • e General sub-fields of physical geography Biogeography · Climatology & paleoclimatology · Coastal geography · Geomorphology · Glaciology · Hydrology & Hydrography · Landscape ecology · Limnology · Oceanography · Palaeogeography · Pedology · Quaternary science For the books called Geography by Ancient Greek authors, see Geographia (Ptolemy) and Geographica (Strabo) For the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, see Geographical (magazine) Geography is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena. ... This article explores the history of geography. ... Geography is the study of the Earth and its features and of the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the effects of human activity. ... List of Geographers The geographers are listed below in English alphabetical transliteration order (by surnames). ... 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Lake Geneva Limnology (from Greek: Λίμνη limne, lake; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of inland waters (both fresh and saline), including their biological, physical, chemical, geological and hydrological aspects. ... Thermohaline circulation Oceanographic frontal systems on the southern hemisphere Oceanography (from the greek words Ωκεανός meaning Ocean and γράφω meaning to write), also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth Sciences that studies the Earths oceans and seas. ... Paleogeography (sometimes spelled palaeogeography) is the study of the ancient geologic environments of the Earths surface as preserved in the stratigraphic record. ... Pedology (pÄ›dÇ’lōgy), (from Russian: pedologiya, from the Greek pedon = soil, earth), is the study of soils and soil formation. ... Quaternary science is an inter-disciplinary field of study focusing on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2. ... 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Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time,[1] and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences. ... Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of the Earth. ... Coastal geography is the study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography(i. ... Surface of the Earth Geomorphology is the study of landforms, including their origin and evolution, and the processes that shape them. ... Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland. ... Water covers 70% of the Earths surface. ... Hydrography focuses on the measurement of physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. ... Landscape ecology is a sub-discipline of ecology and geography that address how spatial variation in the landscape affects ecological processes such as the distribution and flow of energy, materials and individuals in the environment (which, in turn, may influence the distribution of landscape elements themselves such as hedgerows). ... Lake Geneva Limnology (from Greek: Λίμνη limne, lake; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of inland waters (both fresh and saline), including their biological, physical, chemical, geological and hydrological aspects. ... Thermohaline circulation Oceanographic frontal systems on the southern hemisphere Oceanography (from the greek words Ωκεανός meaning Ocean and γράφω meaning to write), also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth Sciences that studies the Earths oceans and seas. ... Paleogeography (sometimes spelled palaeogeography) is the study of the ancient geologic environments of the Earths surface as preserved in the stratigraphic record. ... Pedology (pÄ›dÇ’lōgy), (from Russian: pedologiya, from the Greek pedon = soil, earth), is the study of soils and soil formation. ... Quaternary science is an inter-disciplinary field of study focusing on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2. ...