The Gobi Desert (/ ˈɡoʊbi /) is a large desert or brushland region in Asia.

[1] It covers parts

of Northern and Northeastern China and of 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 Taklamakan Desert to the west, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan
Plateau to the southwest and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is
notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire and as the location of several
important cities along the Silk Road.

The Gobi is a rain shadow desert, formed by the Tibetan Plateau blocking precipitation
from the Indian Ocean reaching the Gobi territory.

Conservation, ecology, and economy[edit]

The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossils finds, including the first dinosaur
eggs, twenty-six of which, averaging 9 inches in length, were uncovered in 1923. [9]
Despite the harsh conditions, these deserts and the surrounding regions sustain many
animals, including black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, wild Bactrian camels, Mongolian
wild ass and sandplovers. They are occasionally visited by snow leopards, brown bears,
and wolves. Lizards are especially well-adapted to the climate of the Gobi Desert, with
approximately 30 species distributed across its southern Mongolian border. [10] The most
common vegetation in the Gobi desert are shrubs adapted to drought. [11] These shrubs
included gray sparrow's saltwort (Salsola passerina), gray sagebrush, and low grasses such
as needle grass and bridlegrass. Due to livestock grazing, the amount of shrubs in the
desert has decreased.[11] Several large nature reserves have been established in the Gobi,
including Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Great Gobi A and Great Gobi B Strictly
Protected Area.
The area is vulnerable to trampling by livestock and off-road vehicles (effects from human
intervention are greater in the eastern Gobi Desert, where rainfall is heavier and may
sustain livestock). In Mongolia, grasslands have been degraded by goats, which are raised
by nomadic herders as source of cashmere wool.[12]
Large copper deposits are being mined by Rio Tinto Group.[13] The mine was and remains
controversial. There was significant opposition in Mongolia's parliament to the terms under
which the mine will proceed, and some are calling for the terms to be renegotiated.
Specifically, the contention revolves primarily around the question of whether negotiations
were fair (Rio Tinto is far better resourced) and whether Rio Tinto will pay adequate taxes
on the revenues it derives from the mine (an agreement was reached whereby the
operation will be exempt from windfall tax.[14]

Desertification[edit]
The Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate through desertification, most rapidly on
the southern edge into China, which is seeing 3,600 km2 (1,390 sq mi) of grassland
overtaken every year. Dust storms have increased in frequency in the past 20 years,
causing further damage to China's agriculture economy.
The northern and eastern boundaries between desert and grassland are constantly
changing. This is mostly due to the climate conditions before the growing season, which
influence the rate of evapotranspiration and subsequent plant growth.[15]
The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities. [by whom?] It is part of the
broader consequences of anthropogenic climate change, but locally driven
by deforestation, overgrazing, and depletion of water resources.[citation needed] China has
tried various plans to slow the expansion of the desert, which have met with some small
degree of success, but no major effects. The most recent project is called the Three-North
Shelter Forest Program which features huge strips of newly planted trees, in hopes that the
baby trees will live long enough to establish a forest ecosystem which would stabilize the
soil, retain moisture, and act as a buffer against further desertification. Most of the trees
planted have died.[16]
The Three-North Shelter Forest Program (or "Green Great Wall") was a Chinese
government tree-planting project begun in 1978, and set to continue through 2050. The
goal of the program is to reverse desertification by planting aspen and other fast-growing
trees on some 36.5 million hectares across some 551 counties in 12 provinces of northern
China.[17] From 1978 to about 2004, the survival rate for trees planted as part of the Three
Norths Shelter Forest System Project was low (about 15%). [18]

Ecoregions[edit]
The Gobi, broadly defined, can be divided into five distinct dry ecoregions, based on
variations in climate and topography:

•Eastern Gobi desert steppe, 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.
•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 Altai
range on the north, the Helan Mountains to the southeast, and the Qilian Mountains and
northeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau on the southwest.
•Gobi Lakes Valley desert steppe, ecoregion lies north of Alashan Plateau semi-desert,
between the Gobi Altai range to the south and the Khangai Mountains to the north.
•Dzungarian Basin semi-desert, includes the desert basin lying between the Altai
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.
•Tian Shan range, separates the Dzungarian 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.
Eastern Gobi desert steppe[edit]

A Khulan (Mongolian wild ass) on a hill in the eastern Gobi of Mongolia at sunset.

The surface is extremely diversified, although there are no great differences in vertical
elevation. Between Ulaanbaatar (48°00′N 107°00′E) and the small lake of Iren-dubasu-nor
(43°45′N 111°50′E), the surface is greatly eroded. Broad flat depressions and basins are
separated by groups of flat-topped mountains of relatively low elevation 150 to 180 m
(490 to 590 ft)), through which archaic rocks crop out as crags and isolated rugged
masses. The floors of the depressions lie mostly between 900 to 1,000 m (3,000 to
3,300 ft) above sea-level. Farther south, between Iren-dutiasu-nor and the Yellow River,
comes a region of broad tablelands alternating with flat plains, the latter ranging at
altitudes of 1000–1100 m and the former at 1,070 to 1,200 m (3,510 to 3,940 ft). The
slopes of the plateaus are more or less steep, and are sometimes penetrated by "bays" of
the lowlands.[2]
As the border-range of the Hyangan is approached, the country steadily rises up to
1,370 m (4,490 ft) and then to 1,630 m (5,350 ft). 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. Through all the central parts, until the bordering mountains are reached, trees
and shrubs are utterly absent. Clay and sand are the predominant formations; the
watercourses, especially in the north, being frequently excavated 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft
10 in) deep. In many places in the flat, dry valleys or depressions farther south, beds
of loess, 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft) 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.[2]
The altitudes are higher, those of the lowlands ranging from 1,000 to 1,700 m (3,300 to
5,600 ft), and those of the ranges from 200 to 500 m (660 to 1,640 ft) higher, though in a
few cases they reach altitudes of 2,400 m (7,900 ft). The elevations do not 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 tablelands, built up of the horizontal red deposits of the Han-gai (Obruchev'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. They are greatly intersected
by gullies or dry watercourses. Water is scarce, with no streams, no lakes, no wells, and
precipitation falls 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.[2] 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).
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 (at
the Great Wall) 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.[2]

Alashan Plateau semi-desert[edit]

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, 3,200 to 3,500 m
(10,500 to 11,500 ft) in altitude, on the southwest. The Ordos Desert, which covers the
northeastern portion of the Ordos Plateau, in the great north loop of the Yellow River, 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.[2]
"Topographically," says Nikolai Przhevalsky, "it is a perfectly level plain, which in all
probability once formed the bed of a huge lake or inland sea." He concludes this based on
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,
nothing can 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 1,000 to 1,500 m
(3,300 to 4,900 ft), 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 species,
but all dwarfed, deformed and starved. The fauna consists of little but antelope, 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).[2]

Dzungarian Basin semi-desert[edit]

The structure here is that of the mighty T'ien Shan, or Heavenly Mountains,
running from west to east. It divides the northern one-third of Sinkiang from the
southern two-thirds. On the northern side, rivers formed from the snow and
glaciers of the high mountains break through barren foothill ranges and flow out
into an immense, hollow plain. Here the rivers begin to straggle and fan out,
and form great marshes with dense reed-beds. Westerners call this terrain the
Dzungarian desert. The Chinese also call it a desert, but the Mongols call it a
'gobi'—that is, a land of thin herbage, more suitable for camels than for cows,
but capable also, if herds are kept small and moved frequently, of sustaining
horses, sheep, and goats. The herbage comprises a high proportion of woody,
fragrant plants. Gobi mutton is the most aromatic in the world.[19]

The Yulduz valley or valley of the Haidag-gol (43°N 83°E–43°N 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 transcend and transpose, sweeping back on east and
west respectively, with Lake Bosten in between. 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 Nur, the Kum-tagh desert, 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 (81 to 99 mi) across from north to south, and is traversed by a number of minor
parallel ranges, ridges and chains of hills. Down its middle runs a broad stony valley, 40 to
80 km (25 to 50 mi) wide, at an elevation of 900 to 1,370 m (2,950 to 4,490 ft). The Chol-
tagh, which reaches an average altitude of 1,800 m (5,900 ft), is absolutely sterile, and its
northern foot rests upon a narrow belt of barren sand, which leads down to the depressions
mentioned above.[2]
The Kuruk-tagh is the greatly disintegrated, denuded and wasted relic of a mountain range
which used to be of incomparably greater magnitude. In the west, between Lake Bosten
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.[2]
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.[2]
To the highest range on the great swelling Grigory Grum-Grshimailo 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
Lake Bosten, though parted from it by the drift-sand desert of Ak-bel-kum (White Pass
Sands), has at first a west-northwest to east-southeast strike, but it gradually curves round
like a scimitar towards the east-northeast and at the same time gradually decreases in
elevation.[2]
In 91° east, while the principal range of the Kuruk-tagh system wheels to the east-
northeast, 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.[2]