Tengger Desert

Tengger Desert

Tengger desert is located in the southwest of Alxa Left Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the central border of Gansu Province, between 37 ° 30 ′ to 40 ° N and 102 ° 20 ′ to 106 ° E. The great wall of South Vietnam reaches Helan Mountain in the East and Yabulai mountain in the West. It is 240 km long from north to South and 160 km wide from east to west, with a total area of about 43000 square kilometers. It is the fourth largest desert in China. It is in the east of Alxa Desert, at the bottom of yine basin.

The administrative division of Tengger Desert mainly belongs to Alxa Left Banner, and the West and southeast edge belong to Minqin, Wuwei and Zhongwei of Ningxia respectively.

The desert includes nanjiling in the north and Tengger in the south, which is commonly referred to as Tengger Desert. There are sand dunes, lake basins, grass beaches, mountains, residual hills and plains in the interior. Most of the dunes are grid dune chain and crescent dune chain with the height of 10-20 meters (33-66 feet). There are 422 lake basins, half of which have accumulated water, and they are dry or shrinking residual lakes.

geographical environment

landforms

Within the desert, sand dunes, lake basins, mountains and plains are distributed alternately. Among them, 71% are sand dunes, 7% are lake basins, and 22% are mountain residual hills and flat land. Among the dunes, mobile dunes account for 93%, and the rest are fixed and semi fixed dunes. The height is generally 10 to 20 meters, mainly grid dunes and crescent dune chains, and crescent dunes are distributed in the marginal areas. The high compound dune chain is found in the northeast of the desert, with a height of about 50-100m.

Topographically, it belongs to the alluvial plain of Alxa Plateau, with an altitude of 1050 meters. In geological structure, it is a faulted basin (in yine basin), covered by fine sand and clay like alluvial lacustrine deposits. Above it are alluvial, silting and aeolian deposits. Most of them are mobile, semi fixed, fixed sand dunes, gentle sand dunes and inter dune lowlands with different heights of 3-10 meters The geomorphic types of distribution. The Yellow River flows through the southeast end of Dengkou county from south to north. The terrain of Dengkou Lvzhou inclines from southeast to northwest, with an altitude of 1048-1053 meters.

Most of the mountains are scattered and isolated hills covered by quicksand or divided by sand dunes, such as alagu mountain, Qingshan mountain, toudao mountain, Erdao mountain, Sandao mountain, Sidao mountain, tulantai mountain, etc. The flat land inside the desert is mainly distributed between the Chala lake and Tonghu Lake in the southeast. The edge of the lake basin in the desert has been reclaimed in a small area.

climate

The climate is controlled by westerly circulation all the year round, which is a typical continental climate in the middle temperate zone. The annual average precipitation is 102.9 mm, the maximum annual precipitation is 150.3 mm, and the minimum annual precipitation is 33.3 mm, The annual average temperature is 7.8 ℃, the absolute maximum temperature is 39 ℃, the absolute minimum temperature is - 29.6 ℃, the annual average evaporation is 2258.8 mm, the frost free period is 168 days, the illumination is 3181 hours, the solar radiation is 150 kcal / cm2, and the effective accumulated temperature greater than 10 ℃ is 3289.1 ℃. The southwest wind prevails throughout the year, the main wind is northwest wind, the wind is strong, and the wind sand damage is the main natural disaster There are potential advantages in developing large-scale breeding industry.

The Tengger desert has a remarkable continental climate, and it is close to Lake Basin and river basin with good water condition. The dryness of Tengger desert is 4-12, and the annual average temperature is 7-9 ℃. It is one of the regions with the longest illumination and the highest accumulated temperature in Inner Mongolia and Ningxia.

The annual precipitation is 116-148 mm; although the rainfall is small, it is mainly concentrated in July to August, and the rainfall is hot in the same season, which provides a good hydrothermal condition for the growth of annual grasses and other grasses in summer. The annual evaporation is 3000-3600 mm, and the annual average wind speed is 3-4 M / s. there is a level 8 storm from February to March, and the annual gale days are 30-50 days. It is one of the areas rich in wind energy resources in the desert. This provides a prerequisite for the use of wind energy.

hydrology

There are 422 large and small lake basins in the desert. Most of them are grass lakes without clear water, covering an area of 1-100 square kilometers. The water source is mainly from the surrounding mountain phreatic water. The main vegetation types in the lake basin are swamp, meadow and halophyte, which are the main pastures in the desert. There are 251 stagnant water, mainly spring water supply and temporary water collection.

Most of them are tertiary residual lakes, which are the main settlements of residents. The total area is 503400 hectares, most of which are Achnatherum splendens, Malan and other grass lakes with little or no water. The lake basin in Tengger desert has sufficient light and heat, good water conditions, rich groundwater, and buried depth of 1-2 meters. It is an oasis in the desert and has become a place where herdsmen live for generations. The distribution characteristics of this lake are: in the central and southern part of the desert, the lake basin generally extends 20-30 km long and 1-3 km wide, covering an area of 4000-5000 hectares.

The lake basins are distributed in a regular north-south parallel arrangement, separated by mobile sand dunes with a width of 3-5 km; most of the lake basins in the western and southern edge are irregular distribution, with different sizes, the larger ones are 5000-10000 hectares, the smaller ones are less than 100 hectares, and there are many lakes and springs, with good water quality and lush vegetation. Although the area is small, it is the local aquatic plants Fengmei animal husbandry base.

From the above situation, the Tengger Desert, especially in the south, is dotted with lakes, and there are some flat and open land, through which the Yellow River flows. According to the survey data of Hetao General Administration of Inner Mongolia, shallow confined and semi confined water is extremely rich, with a 100 meter aquifer, a total reserve of 5.7 billion cubic meters, and good water quality, which is a high-quality water source for persisting in drainage and irrigation. In 1958, we began to carry out the work of desertification control, building hundreds of shelterbelts, closing the sand and cultivating grass, so as to make the Baotou Lanzhou railway pass through the desert unimpeded. This is a great achievement in the science of desertification control in China.

Moon Lake is the only original ecological lake with coastline in many lakes in Tengger Desert. On its 3 km long and 2 km wide coastline, if the thin surface is excavated, thousands of years of black sand and mud can be exposed. Half of Moon Lake is fresh water lake, and half is salt water lake. The lake water contains more than 10 kinds of mineral trace elements such as selenium and iron oxide, and has great purification capacity. The lake water has remained for millions of years without turbidity. Although the annual precipitation is only 220mm, the lake water has not decreased, but increased. After testing, the unique black sand mud of Moon Lake is rich in more than ten kinds of trace elements, and its quality is better than that of the black mud in the "Dead Sea". It can be said that it is a unique pure ecological resource in tenggelidalai.

soil

The zonal soils in Tengger Desert are gray desert soil and brown calcareous soil. The vegetation is dominated by sandy shrubs and semi shrubs. In the sandy and sandy loamy soil layers, a large amount of gypsum is often accumulated; in the lake basin, a large area of saline alkali soil is developed, among which the meadow saline soil is the most widely distributed, with a large number of halophytes growing. Aeolian sandy soil is the largest soil type in the territory, which is distributed from the edge of the lake basin to the piedmont plain, and is the basis of oasis plants.

geographical position

The Tengger Desert lies between 37 ° 30 ′ n to 40 ° N and 102 ° 20 ′ e to 106 ° E. It covers an area of about 42700 square kilometers. The administrative division mainly belongs to Alxa Left Banner, and the western and southeast edge belong to Minqin, Wuwei and Zhongwei city of Ningxia respectively. The desert includes nanjiling in the north and Tengger in the south, which is commonly referred to as Tengger Desert.

Cause of formation

The two main reasons for the formation of Tengger Desert are drought and wind. In addition, people deforest forests and trees, destroy grasslands, so that the surface of the land lost the cover of plants, thus forming a desert.

In addition to the arid climate, deforestation and grassland destruction, there are also abundant desert material sources, which are mainly distributed in inland Intermountain basins with abundant sediments and depressions and lowlands on denuded plateau. The source of sand is fine material from ancient or modern sediments.

For example, the sands in the Taklimakan Desert and Gurbantonggut desert in China are derived from ancient river alluvial deposits; most of the sands in the Tengger Desert, Maowusu Desert and xiaotengger desert are derived from ancient and modern alluvial deposits and lacustrine deposits; the deserts in the middle reaches of the Tarim River and the lower reaches of the huagan River in the southwest of Korla are derived from modern river alluvial deposits; the Tengger Desert and the Helan Mountain, Langshan bayinwu desert are derived from modern river alluvial deposits The sand dunes in the front of Lashan mountain are derived from proluvial alluvial deposits, and the sand dunes in the central and western highlands of Ordos are derived from the residual sediments of bedrock weathering.

Traffic routes

The railway from Baotou to Lanzhou is 31 kilometers long, passing through the southeast edge of Tengger Desert. Within 200-300 meters along the railway, the original mobile dunes have been fixed after treatment, ensuring the safety of railway transportation.

Demographic situation

The population density is higher than that of Badain Jaran Desert. In the hinterland of the desert, there are chahanbrug, turantai, Iker and other townships, and the settlements are distributed in the periphery of the larger lake basin. On the edge of the desert, there are Tonghu, toudao lake, wenduertu, Menggen and other settlements, as well as some sand fixation forest farms. Shapotou is a national nature reserve with an area of 12700 hectares. There is "Ming Spring" in the desert, which can predict earthquakes.

natural resources

Biological resources

Tengger Mongolian for the sky, meaning the boundless quicksand, such as the boundless sky, hence the name. Most of the southwest desert is covered with vegetation, and the main area is the desert

Chinese PinYin : Teng Ge Li Sha Mo