Taklamakan Desert

  • November 10, 2021
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Taklamakan Desert

Subject – IR

Context – China builds mock-ups of U.S. Navy warships

Concept –

DesertLocationBorders
Taklamakan Desert

 

It is a desert in Southwest Xinjiang in Northwest ChinaIt is bounded by

  • the Kunlun Mountains to the south,
  • the Pamir Mountains to the west,
  • the Tian Shan range to the north, and
  • the Gobi Desert to the east.

FeatureClimatePhysiography
It is one of the largest sandy deserts in the world.
  • The TaklaMakan’s climate is moderately warm and markedly continental, with a maximum annual temperature range of 70 °F (39 °C).
  • Winters are cold: in January the average air temperature is 14 to 16 °F (−10 to −9 °C)
Several small mountain ranges and chains, composed of sandstones and clays of Cenozoic age (i.e., formed within about the past 65 million years), rise in the western part of the desert

RiversPlant and Animal Life
  • In the north the sands of the TaklaMakan form a clear boundary with the vegetated Tarim River valley.
  • The Hotan and Keriya river valleys have survived up to the present day, but most of the shallower rivers have been lost in the sands, after which their empty valleys were filled by wind-borne sand.
  • Vegetation is extremely sparse in the TaklaMakan; almost the entire region is devoid of plant cover.
  • The animal life of the TaklaMakan is also extremely sparse.
IR Taklamakan Desert