What is Gobi?

Gobi in Gobi

gobi

Also known as Gobi Desert.

Gobi is one of the huge desert and semi-desert areas in the world, spanning the vast land of Central Asia and the vast space of Mongolia and China. Most parts of Gobi are not deserts, but bare rocks. It can reach Altai Mountain and Hang 'ai Mountain in the north, Daxing 'anling in the east and Beishan in the south. From the eastern boundary of Gobi to the west 1, 600 kilometers (1, 000 miles) is Xinjiang, which is a huge basin surrounded by Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the south and Tianshan Mountain in the north. This desert occupies a length of 1, 609 kilometers (1, 000 miles) and a width of 483? 966 kilometers (300? 600 miles), covering an area of about 65,438+0,300,000 square kilometers (500,000 square miles). Gobi border reaches Altai Mountain and Hang 'ai Mountain in the north; East to the western edge of Daxinganling; South to Altun Mountain, Beishan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain; West to East Tianshan Mountain.

[Edit this paragraph] Definition

Gobi is a kind of desert. That is, a desert with gentle terrain and large gravel on the ground. From Mongolian. Mongols call the gravel desert Gobi. Because the fine sand has been blown away by the wind and the Gobi ground is covered with gravel, there is a difference between gravel desert and stone desert. Mongols call it desert area, which is full of sand and stones, and the ground is short of water and plants.

[Edit this paragraph] The formation of Gobi

Various sediments in the eroded area in the desert, such as proluvial, alluvium, glacier, moraine, ice water deposit on the piedmont flood plain, and debris residue after strong weathering of bedrock, are blown away by strong winds, leaving coarse gravel and covering the ground in pieces, forming a gravel desert. Yumen, Gansu, China is very typical. The sand in the sandy desert is abraded by the sand carried by the wind, forming angular aeolian stone. The surface of aeolian stone has a brown iron-manganese oxide shell, called desert varnish, which is formed by the precipitation of dissolved minerals on the sand surface when the water in the sand evaporates.

Types of Gobi The surface of Gobi can be divided into rocky desert and gravel desert according to its composition. Rocky desert refers to the foothills where the surface rocks are exposed or only covered by a thin layer of rock fragments, and the surrounding and internal piedmont areas are small. For example, in the piedmont areas of Mazong Mountain, Laishan Mountain in Ya Bu, Helan Mountain, Hanwula Mountain and Bayanwula Mountain, the surface of gravel desert is covered with gravel with different sizes. The periphery of the rocky desert is vast, and the strong wind blows away fine particles, leaving behind rough gravel. Most of the gravel has become a windbreak, covered with a hard and smooth dark brown desert varnish. Gobi desert, which consists of rocky desert and gravel desert, has a vast area and only one distribution range.

[Edit this paragraph] The characteristics of Gobi

● There is little or no rain throughout the year, and the annual precipitation is generally less than 250 mm. The precipitation is intermittent, and the more it goes to the center of the desert, the less it is.

● The daily range of temperature and ground temperature is greater than that of annual range, with more sunny days and longer sunshine hours.

● Sandstorm activities are frequent, the surface is dry and bare, and it is easy to blow sand and gravel, which often forms sandstorms, especially in winter. Oasis will appear in desert areas with abundant water resources, which has a unique ecological environment and is conducive to life and production.

[Edit this paragraph] Natural features

(1) terrain. Gobi consists of the western Gashun Gobi, Junggar Gobi and Outer Altai Gobi, the central and eastern East Gobi (namely Mongolian Gobi) and the southern Alashan Desert.

Gazhun Gobi starts from Tianshan branch in the west and reaches Beishan in the south, with an altitude of1.524m (5,000ft). It is gentle and undulating, with a complex labyrinth of wide depressions, separated by flat-topped hills and sometimes rock ridges more than 90 meters above the plain. Although the salt marsh is in a closed depression, the desert is stony and waterless. The soil is grayish brown and contains gypsum.

Outside the Altai Gobi, there are branches of Mongolian Altai Mountain and Gobi Altai Mountain in the north and east, and Beishan Mountain in the south. The plain is steep and rugged. It extends to a vast mountainous area over 10 km (6 miles) on the plain, next to the plain and low domes. These mountains are barren and separated by dry valleys. The western section of the Gobi in the outer Altai is basically a plain, but there are small uplift areas scattered on it, cut by the dry river bed and large salt marshes. In the middle, the degree of fragmentation is increasing, terraces (hills with flat top and steep sides) appear together with dry ditches, and flat depressions at both ends are covered with clay layers. Outside the Altai Gobi, the scorched earth, the annual precipitation is less than 100 mm (4 inches), but there is always water underground. But there are actually no wells and springs here, and the vegetation is very sparse, which is almost useless to livestock.

Junggar Gobi is located in the north of Gashun Gobi, between the Shandong branch of Mongolian Altai and the easternmost tip of Tianshan Mountain. It is similar to the outer Altai Gobi, and its edge is broken by ravines, residual hills and low ridges.

Alashan Desert is located between the border between China and Mongolia in the north, the Yellow River and Helan Mountain in the east, Qilian Mountain in the south and the northern section of Heihe River in the west. It consists of a vast and almost barren plain, and the terrain rises from northwest to southeast. Most of Alashan is covered with sand.

The characteristics of the East Gobi and the Western Regions are similar, with an altitude of 70 1? 1.524m(2300m？ 5,000 feet), but its precipitation is slightly higher-reaching 203 mm (8 inches) per year-but there are actually no rivers. Groundwater is relatively rich and only partially mineralized. Groundwater is also close to the surface, providing water for small lakes and springs. However, the vegetation is sparse, mainly composed of wormwood in rough taupe soil. Salt marshes and grass marshes are common in wet depressions. In the northern and eastern peripheral areas, there is a lot of precipitation, and the desert landscape gradually becomes less harsh, sometimes even like a prairie.

(2) climate. The climate is extremely continental and dry: winter is cold, spring is dry and cold, and summer is warm. The annual temperature fluctuates greatly, with the average low temperature reaching -40℃(-40 ℉) in June at 5438+1October and the average high temperature climbing to 45℃ (13 ℉) in July. The daily temperature fluctuation range may also be very large. The annual total precipitation varies from less than 76 mm (3 inches) in the west to more than 203 mm (8 inches) in the northeast (the maximum precipitation is in summer). There are monsoon-like conditions in the eastern region. North wind and northwest wind prevail in Gobi.

(3) Water system and soil. The desert water system is mainly underground; Surface rivers flow almost irregularly. Water flows in mountainous areas are limited to the edge of Gobi. Even so, when they flow into loose soil or saline closed depressions, they will soon dry up. Many rivers only flow in summer. On the other hand, groundwater is widely distributed and its quality is enough for animal husbandry.

Gobi soil is mainly taupe and brown carbonaceous soil (rich in carbon), gypsum soil (containing gypsum) and coarse gravel soil, which is often combined with sandy salt marsh and clay.

(4) plants. Vegetation is sparse. On the plateau and the plain at the foot of the mountain, there are shrubby dwarf vegetation. In salt marshes, halophytes are also dominant; Artemisia sphaerocephala and sparse perennial plants and millet grow in the desert. Semi-desert areas are rich in vegetation, belonging to herbs and Artemisia. In Altai Mountain and other high mountains in Gobi, desert grassland completely covers the lower slopes, while in the higher part, there are mountain varieties of feathered grassland.

(5) animals. There are many kinds of animals here, such as wild camels, Mongolian donkeys, blue sheep and philosophers. Poole Gerval's wild horses used to be distributed in the western desert, but now they may have become extinct in the wild. Rodents include marmots and woodchucks, as well as reptiles.

[Edit this paragraph] Residents and economy

The population density is small-per square kilometer 1 person (less than 3 people per square mile)-and it is mainly Mongolian and Han people in Inner Mongolia. The population of Han nationality has greatly increased since 1950. The main occupation of residents is nomadism, but the area where the Han people gather is mainly agriculture. The traditional houses of Mongolian herdsmen are felt yurts and tents, while the farmers of Han nationality live in adobe houses made of coarse bricks.

Gobi and its semi-desert areas are mainly pastoral areas, and sheep and goats account for more than half of the total livestock. The second most important thing is bighorn. Horses account for only a small part of the total number of livestock, and they are concentrated in the semi-desert with lush vegetation in the southeast together with bighorn cattle. A considerable number of livestock consist of two-humped camels, which are still used for transportation in some areas.

/kloc-since the 1950s, the increase of population and overuse of marginal land have reduced vegetation and aggravated soil erosion, which has led to the overall expansion of the Gobi desert and sacrificed the semi-arid grassland on the edge. In 1980s, the industrialization of Gobi aggravated environmental pollution. An obvious example is the phosphate pollution of groundwater caused by chemical fertilizer production in Hohhot, which further affects local livestock.

[Edit this paragraph] Research and exploration

When the ancient Silk Road extends along the northern and western edges of the Taklimakan Desert, it passes through the southern part of the Alashan Desert and the Gashun Gobi. The Gobi area was first passed by Kyle in the13rd century. Polo's vivid description is well known to Europeans. Besides, they have never really known this area and have never been there.

The most interesting places in Gobi are Buddhist caves and temples near Dunhuang, China. These temples were built in 4? 10 century, it was well preserved in the dry air of the desert, and the quality and quantity of murals and documents have always been unparalleled. The scientific research on this complex began in 1907 when ohrel Stein, a Hungarian-born British archaeologist and geographer, discovered the Thousand Buddha Cave.

[Edit this paragraph] People with the same name and surname

(1935.6 ——) Jiangsu people. Good at Chinese painting and micro-carving. Self-taught art He is a middle school teacher, an employee of Jiangsu Wuxian Fine Arts Research Institute and Suzhou Sandalwood Fan Factory, and Art editor of Guangming Daily. Micro-sculpture works include 300 Tang poems, Zhong 108, Chyi Chin calligraphy and painting, etc.