Hunshandake Desert

Hunshandake desert is located in the south of Xilinguole League and the west of Keshiketeng Banner in Chifeng City. It starts from the West foot of the southern section of Daxing'an Mountains in the East and ends at Ji'er railway in the West. It is 340 km long from east to west and 30-100 km wide from north to south, covering a total area of 21400 square kilometers. Most of the dunes are fixed or semi fixed sand ridges and honeycomb dunes, and there are flat sand and lake basin depressions between the sand ridges. The vegetation is good, mainly elm, willow, poplar and some shrubs and sand plants, there are more than 100 lakes, suitable for horse riding, camel riding or car cross-country tourism projects.

Hunshandake sandy land is one of the top ten deserts in China. It is located in the south end of Xilinguole grassland in the middle of Inner Mongolia, 180 kilometers away from Beijing, and is the nearest sand source to Beijing. Hunshandake sandy land is about 450 kilometers long from east to west, covering an area of 52000 square kilometers, with an average altitude of more than 1100 meters. It is one of the four major sandy lands in central and Eastern Inner Mongolia. Hunshandake sandy land is a famous desert with water in China. There are many small lakes, water bubbles and Sand Springs in the sandy land. The spring water comes out of the sandy land and flows into the river. Most of these small rivers flow into the gogerstia River, some only into the bubble, and some are seasonal rivers.

Regional overview

Hunshandake sandy land is rich in water and grass, with peculiar landscape and beautiful scenery. Some people call it "the south of the Great Wall", while others call it "garden desert". There are many wild animal and plant resources, which are breeding grounds for migratory birds, as well as many rare plants and medicinal materials.

In modern times, due to the continuous drought and reclamation of climate, the grassland was overloaded, resulting in grassland degradation, shrinking rivers and lakes, and increasingly serious desertification. According to research, Hunshandake sandy land has become one of the main sources of sand and dust that plagued Beijing in recent years.

Cause of formation of sandy land

According to the results of field investigation and indoor sample analysis, the Hunshandake sandy land was formed at least in the late Tertiary. At that time, under the control of warm dry subtropical high and weak East Asian monsoon, there were environmental changes among warm arid desert, semi-arid grassland and woodland grassland, forming subtropical red monsoon desert deposits. In the Quaternary, influenced by the East Asian monsoon and its changes, the environment fluctuated from temperate desert steppe to forest steppe, with a series of processes of activation, desert expansion and dune fixation, and desert contraction, forming temperate yellow monsoon desert deposition.

Geography and climate

Hunshandake sandy land has unique natural conditions. The terrain is high in the southwest and low in the northeast, with an average altitude of 1300 meters. The northern part of the banner is the Middle East section of the famous Hunshandake sandy land, which is a typical landform type of alternating dune and meadow. There are sparse forests, shrubs and meadows on the flat grassland formed between sand dunes, which form a unique pastoral scenery with other grasslands. In the south, there are low mountains and hills, which are the intersection of the low mountains and hills in the north of Yanshan Mountain and the low mountains and hills in the southwest of Daxinganling Mountain. Hunshandake Sandy Land in the north and jinlianchuan typical grassland in the south are not only the maintenance system of ecological environment, but also the favorable barrier of ecological environment in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. The climate of Hunshandake sandy land is mild. It has a mid temperate continental climate. The annual average temperature is 1.5 ℃, the average temperature in January is - 18.3 ℃, the average temperature in July is 18.7 ℃, the extreme maximum temperature is 35.9 ℃, the extreme minimum temperature is - 36.6 ℃, and it is cool and pleasant in summer. It is a good place for summer. The annual rainfall is 365.1 mm, mainly concentrated in July, August and September, accounting for 80% - 90% of the annual rainfall. There are 104 frost free days in the whole year and 180 ice snow days in winter.

Migration of migratory birds

Xilinguole grassland in Inner Mongolia is the only place for migratory birds, especially in Chagannuoer lake and Hunshandake sandy land.

In March and April every year, as soon as the water in the lake begins to melt away, a large number of migratory birds fly back from the South and come to chaganuoer lake to inhabit. They lay eggs and raise their young in the small lake of Hunshandake sandy land, in the reeds and cattail grass of paozi. However, in recent years, the number of migratory birds living there has been greatly reduced. According to Mr. Zheng Boyu, a retired cadre of the former Ministry of light industry who has lived there for many years and then made a detailed investigation there, this is mainly due to the changes in the living environment, coupled with the aggravation of human disturbance and hunting, where migratory birds no longer dare to lay eggs and breed. They have no choice but to breed in parks, lakes and rivers in Beijing. Hunshandake sandy land is located in the central and southern part of Xilinguole grassland, with east-west trend, extending for more than 300 kilometers, with a total area of 214000 square kilometers. The sand dunes fluctuate in the sand, and there are inter dune lowlands and beaches between them.

This sandy land is a famous desert with water in China. There are many small lakes, water bubbles and Sand Springs in the sandy land. The spring water comes out of the sandy land and flows into the river. Most of these small rivers flow into the gogerstia River, some only into the bubble, and some are seasonal rivers. Hunshandake sandy land is rich in water and grass, with peculiar landscape and beautiful scenery. Some people call it "the south of the Great Wall", while others call it "garden desert". There are many wild animal and plant resources, which are breeding grounds for migratory birds, as well as many rare plants and medicinal materials. How can there be so much water in the sand nest? When people first came into contact with Hunshandake sandy land, they would raise this question. Later, when people had a more detailed understanding, they could not help worrying about the future of Hunshandake sandy land because of climate change in recent years, the groundwater level dropped, the spring disappeared and the river stopped flowing. In some places, desertification, withered trees and degraded grasslands are seriously threatening this beautiful garden. For example, some people suggest that the reason is the decrease of precipitation, but why do the willows grow in the water also die? There are many magical places in Hunshandake sandy land. On the edge of the shawozi, degger tried to find a small lake full of reeds and cattail, and there were several similar lakes around it. They are directly formed by underground water. The lake water is clear and cold. People dare not go down. The dense reeds grow in the water several meters away from the lake bank. Due to the protection of water, dege tries to become a good place for migrant birds to lay eggs. In April and may every year, a large number of migratory birds come there to lay eggs. At this time, cranes and ducks are crowing. Among the water bubbles in Hunshandake sandy land, zhahan palace is the most magical. It is located at the foot of a large sand dune two kilometers south of dege. It is a small round lake less than 50 meters in diameter. The magic of zhahan palace lies in its depth (in Mongolian, palace means deep). If you ask local villagers how deep it is, they will nod their heads and say, "deep, deep! No bottom. " Someone once tied a big stone with a 15 meter long rope, but failed to find it out. What's more strange is that the zhahan palace is surrounded by sand bunkers. The quicksand will flow into the lake, and the strong wind on the grassland will blow the sand into the lake. However, for many years, the zhahan palace is still so deep that it has never been silted up. It always has so much water, whether it's dry or wet. In such a small lake, there are a lot of fish, and all of them are pure crucian carp. These crucian carp than the general color to black, individual is not big, but delicious meat. In Hunshandake sandy land, there are many such small lakes. They all have this kind of crucian carp, which was a tribute to the emperor in the past. In the hinterland of Hunshandake sandy land, sand dunes are continuous. On the top of these sand dunes grow Artemisia ordosica, thatch and Salix, while on the bottom of the sand dunes are beautiful Salix forest. In the middle of the red willow forest, there are many exotic flowers and plants. In some places, there are even thousands of acres of wild daylily. In the blooming season, it is very spectacular. Mr. Zheng Baiyu said that although the capital is beautiful, it is not a paradise for birds after all. The beautiful Chagannor lake and the magical Hunshandake desert are the best places for them to inhabit and breed. We must protect the ecological environment there, reduce human disturbance, and give the birds a quiet and happy land.

Historical changes

The Hunshandake sandy land was formed and evolved under the background of the late Cenozoic global Quaternary glacial period and the uplift of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. Under the influence of the climate fluctuation and neotectonic movement during the glacial period, the sandy land has different genetic mechanisms in different geological periods. In the late Tertiary, the sandy land was mainly controlled by the subtropical high, and was also affected by the weak monsoon and changes, resulting in the formation of red aeolian sand and red paleosol deposits.

Geomorphological features

Hunshandake sandy land is mostly fixed or semi fixed sand dunes. Most of the sand dunes are ridge shaped and chain shaped, and a few are crescent shaped. The sand dunes are distributed from northwest to Southeast. The height of the sand dunes is 10 to 30 meters. The sand dunes are mostly composed of light yellow silt.

Landscape introduction

The landscape can be divided into fixed sandy broad-leaved forest landscape, fixed sandy sparse forest landscape, sandy summer green shrub landscape, sandy grass landscape, sandy semi shrub semi Artemisia landscape and mobile sand dune or bare sand landscape.

In the eastern edge of Hunshandake sandy land, there is a large area of sand forest dominated by Ulmus pumila growing in Keqi darhanwulasu. In the spring when everything revives, Ulmus pumila trees in the sand dunes spit out tender green elm money, which makes the dead sandy land full of vitality. In the hot summer, branches and leaves of Ulmus pumila with different shapes are connected to open green shade for the vast desert The leaves also make the sand forest dyed, the scenery is pleasant; snow flying in the cold winter, these sand elms have become the warriors of wind and sand fixation, standing tall and proud in the wind. In Baiyin Oboo National Nature Reserve, more than 20 kilometers east of Darhan, there are 36000 mu of world rare tree species, Picea mongolica

Chinese PinYin : Hun Shan Da Ke Da Sha Mo