Gobi Desert

• Category: Desert Biomes.
• Geographic Location: Asia.
• Summary: The Gobi is a cold desert high in the rain shadow of the Himalayas. Its growth is alarming and is greatly affecting agricultural land.

The Gobi is the fifth-largest desert in the world, stretching across northern China and southern Mongolia for more than 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers). It is a rain shadow desert created by the Himalayan mountains, which prevent rain-carrying clouds from reaching the Gobi on the prevailing southwesterly winds. Despite its temperature extremes and arid terrain, the Gobi is notable in history for making up a significant portion of the great Mongol Empire and for containing several important cities along the Silk Road from China. It is also the source of critical scientific discoveries, including the first fossilized dinosaur eggs found on Earth.

The Gobi is known for its extreme climate; sweltering midday heat can drop to freezing temperatures at night. A shift of 60 degrees F (33 degrees C) in the space of 24 hours is not unusual. In the winter, icy Siberian winds sweep across the barren landscape with few mountains significant enough to stop their progress. Summer is the rainy season in the Gobi, but temperatures that frequently surpass 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) mean that the water does not stay for long.

The Gobi Desert is comprised of five distinct ecoregions, determined by variations in climate and topography.

Eastern Gobi Desert Steppe

The Eastern Gobi Desert Steppe ecoregion covers more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) at an elevation of 3,300 to 5,000 feet (1,006 to 1,524 meters). Summers in this region can be very hot, and winters are extremely cold due to winds from the north sweeping across the plains. This region receives 4 to 6 inches (102 to 152 millimeters) of precipitation per year, primarily in the summer, just enough to support drought-resistant shrubs and low grasses. This ecoregion intersects part of the Gobi Gurvan Saixan National Park in Mongolia.

Alashan Plateau

The largest Gobi ecoregion lies to the south and southwest of the steppe. The Alashan Plateau is a 260,000-square-mile (675,000-square-kilometer) region of 6,500- to 8,500-foot (1,981- to 2,591-meter) mountains that enclose intermountain basins. The basin and range topography creates an internal arid climate, but a few rivers along its eastern edge and numerous oases are fueled by mountain snowmelt in the basins. Most of this region has the typical rocky, barren Gobi landscape, but the basins along the southern edge contain shifting sand dunes that reach up to 1,000 feet (305 meters) high. This region has an unusually high diversity of plant and animal life for the Gobi.

Gobi Lakes Valley Desert Steppe

North of the Alashan Plateau lies the Gobi Lakes Valley Desert Steppe ecoregion. The long, narrow, nearly flat Gobi Lakes Valley winds among several mountain ranges. The valley has a few sand dunes interspersed with salt marshes, and several large, often dry, lake beds are fed by intermittent rivers from the nearby mountains. The land here is mostly arid, receiving 2 to 8 inches (51 to 203 millimeters) of rain per year, but temperatures are more moderate in both summer and winter. Plants and animals here have adapted either to the wetlands or to arid conditions.

Junggar Basin

To the west of the Alashan Plateau lies the fourth distinct zone, the Junggar Basin. This region also lies within several mountain ranges, but has wide openings to the northwest. The arid center of the basin still receives enough precipitation during the year to support vegetation that stabilizes the sand dunes, and the margins at the base of the mountains receive up to 10 inches (254 millimeters) of rain annually, in addition to runoff from the mountains. This total is enough to sustain several lakes. The Junggar has moderate summers but severe winters, with icy winds sweeping in from Siberia through the open passage to the northwest.

Tian Shan

Finally, the Tian Shan, or Celestial Mountains, is a large, isolated range surrounded by the desert basins of northern China. Running from east to west across central Asia, the Tian Shan stretches across more than 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers). While the lower slopes are nearly as arid as the surrounding deserts, the mountains here—averaging about 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) high—catch arctic moisture flowing from the northwest, resulting in 16 to 32 inches (406 to 813 millimeters) of rain per year falling on the upper slopes, which support conifer forests and meadows. Heavy snowpack on the highest reaches supports rivers and streams. The wide range of elevations and environments in the Tian Shan results in more than 2,500 wildlife species making this ecoregion their home.

Flora and Fauna

Vegetation is sparse and rare across most of the Gobi. The plateaus and plains support small, salt-resistant bushes and low grasses. The semi-arid regions can sustain somewhat less hardy vegetation. One of the most important plants in the Gobi is the saxaul tree (Haloxylon ammodendron). Water reserves that accumulate behind this short, tough tree's bark can be squeezed out by humans and animals. Wild onions are other sources of food and water, occurring across several zones. Saltwort (Batis, Salsola, and Salicornia families) is unique to a specific region of the Gobi: the Salt Desert. The salt content of the soil here is so high that this weed is about the only plant that grows in the Salt Desert.

There is ample variety, if not great numbers, in the fauna that inhabit the Gobi. Some species are common to the deserts of central Asia, while others are unique to a specific ecoregion. The best-known large mammal is the bactrian, or two-humped, camel (Camelus bactrianus). Other large mammals include the Gobi bear, golden eagle, snow leopard, wolf, and ibex. A variety of rodents, lizards, and birds call the desert home.

Many species in the Gobi are endangered due to human activity. Hunting, overgrazing livestock, water diversion for irrigation, mining, and other factors affect the biodiversity in each ecoregion of the Gobi.

Desertification and Conservation

The biggest threat to the Gobi Desert biome is increasing desertification—and the root cause is human activity. The Gobi is growing rapidly, causing concern among its closest neighbors. China is especially affected, losing valuable grasslands to fast-moving desertification.

Despite a very low population density of fewer than three people per square mile (2.6 square kilometers), the main occupation of nomadic animal herding stresses the fragile desert fringes where most of the inhabitants live. Cattle, sheep, and cashmere-producing goats have degraded these very limited grasslands. Overgrazing has decreased vegetation cover and increased erosion of the underlying soil, resulting in advancing desertification, which causes semi-arid lands to become even drier and eventually convert to full deserts. Overuse of the land leaves the region with little or no ability to recover naturally. Poor irrigation management and deforestation also contribute to desertification. Irrigating incorrectly results in the salinization or alkalinization of the soil, which also makes the land unproductive.

The effects of climate change are of great concern to Mongolia, as 70 percent of its land is affected by desertification. In 2010, an estimated 20 percent of the country's livestock was killed by extreme weather. Climate change and the effects of humans upon the land are the two greatest threats to the biome as a whole. In 2021, the area experienced violent gusts of wind, a tornado, and the largest sandstorms in a decade.

China has made plans to try to slow the expansion of the desert. A variety of programs have been developed in recent decades to reclaim lands lost to the Gobi. It is too soon to know whether those programs will work. Various labs and research centers are experimenting with techniques to stop erosion, are developing crops suitable to the desert, are seeking ways to enrich the soil, and are studying the movement of the sands and dust storms.

The most recent plan is dubbed the Green Wall of China. The Chinese government is funding a zigzagging wall of pines, oleasters, junipers, hawthorns, aspens, and other trees that it hopes will someday stretch across 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) and stop the desert in its tracks. The entire project is expected to take 30 years to complete and cost more than $150 million.

Despite all these efforts, the Gobi continues to expand and to grow more dry. Major dust storms have increased in number over the past decade, reaching as far as Korea and the Pacific Ocean. Even though its expansion threatens human habitation, the Gobi remains a unique place with a rich history buried under its surface.

Bibliography

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