Hami Desert
Encyclopedia
The Desert of Hami is a section of the Gobi Desert
that occupies the space between the Tian Shan
system on the north and the Nan-shan Mountains on the south, and is connected on the west with the Desert of Lop.
, who crossed the desert from Hami (or Khumul) to Suchow
in the summer of 1879.
The middle of the desert rises into a plateau
80 miles (128.7 km) across, which reaches an average elevation of 5000 feet (1,524 m) and a maximum elevation of 5500 feet (1,676.4 m). On its northern and southern borders it is overtopped by two divisions of the Bey-san (Pe-shan) Mountains, which are isolated hills or groups of hills only a few hundred feet higher than the plateau. They are separated from the Kuruk-tagh by a well-marked bay of the former Central Asian Mediterranean (Lop Nur
).
Between the northern division and the Karlyk-tagh range (or east Tian Shan
), there is an undulating barren plain, 3900 feet (1,188.7 m) in altitude and 40 miles (64.4 km) from north to south, sloping downwards from both north and south towards the middle, where lies the oasis
of Hami (2,800 ft). Similarly, from the southern division of the Bey-san, a second plain slopes down for 1000 feet (304.8 m) to the valley of the river Bulunzir (or Su-lai-ho), which comes out of China
, from the south side of the Great Wall, and finally empties itself into the lake of Kalachi (or Kara-nor). From the Bulunzir the same plain continues southwards at a level of 3700 feet (1,127.8 m) to the foot of the Nan-shan Mountains. The total breadth of the desert here, from north to south, is 200 miles (321.9 km).
Its general character is that of an undulating plain, dotted over with occasional elevations of clay, which present the appearance of walls, table-topped mounds and broken towers (jardangs), the surface of the plain being strewn with gravel and destitute of vegetation. The swelling or undulating plain between these two ranges of the Bey-san measures about 70 miles (112.7 km) across and is traversed by several stretches of high ground having generally an east-west direction.
of Southeast Mongolia
farther east, through the effects of century-long insolation
, wind erosion
, great and sudden changes of temperature, chemical action and occasional water erosion. Vast areas towards the north consist of expanses of gently sloping clay
, intermingled with gravel
. He points out also that the greatest accumulations of sand and other products of wind scouring do not occur in the deepest parts of the depressions but at the outlets of the valleys and glens, and along the foot of the ranges which flank the depressions on the south. Wherever water has been, desert scrub is found, such as tamarisks
, Dodartia orientalis, Agriophzyllum gobicum, Calligonium sinnex, and Lycium ruthenicum, but all with their roots elevated on little mounds in the same way as the tamarisks grow in the Taklamakan
and the desert of Lop.
Farther east, towards central Mongolia, the relations, says Futterer, are the same as along the Hami-Su-chow route, except that the ranges have lower and broader crests, and the detached hills are more denuded and more disintegrated. Between the ranges occur broad, flat, cauldron-shaped valleys and basins, almost destitute of life except for a few hares and a few birds, such as the crow and the pheasant
, and with scanty vegetation, but no great accumulations of drift-sand. The rocks are severely weathered on the surface, a thick layer of the coarser products of denudation covers the flat parts and climbs a good way up the flanks of the mountain ranges, but all the finer material, sand and clay has been blown away partly southeast into the Ordos
, partly into the Chinese provinces of Shen-si and Shan-si, where it is deposited as loess
, and partly west, where it chokes all the southern parts of the basin of the Tarim. In these central parts of the Gobi, as indeed in all other parts except the desert of Lop and Ordos, the prevailing winds blow from the west and northwest. These winds are warm in summer, and it is they which in the desert of Hami bring the fierce sandstorms
or burans. The wind does blow also from the northeast, but it is then cold and often brings snow, which clears the air of the usual dust haze.
In summer, great heat is encountered here on the relatively low (3000-4600 feet), gravelly expanses on the north and on those Of the south (4000-5000 feet); but on the higher ground between, which in the Pe-shan ranges ascends to 7550 feet (2,301.2 m), there is great cold even in summer, and a wide daily range of temperature. Above the broad and deep accumulations of the products of denudation which have been brought down by the rivers from the Tian Shan ranges (e.g. the Karlyk-tagh) on the north and from the Nanshan on the south, and have filled up the cauldron-shaped valleys, there rises a broad swelling, built up of granitic
rocks, crystalline schist
s and metamorphosed sedimentary rock
s of both Archaic and Palaeozoic age, all greatly folded and tilted up, and shot through with numerous irruptions of volcanic rock
s, predominantly porphyritic
and dioritic
. On this swelling rise four more or less parallel mountain ranges of the Pe-shan system, together with a fifth chain of hills farther south, all having a strike from westnorthwest to eastnortheast. The range farthest north rises to 1000 feet (304.8 m) above the desert and 7550 feet (2,301.2 m) above sea-level, the next two ranges reach 1300 feet (396.2 m) above the general level of the desert, and the range farthest south 1475 feet (449.6 m) or an absolute altitude of 7200 feet (2,194.6 m), while the fifth chain of hills does not exceed 650 feet (198.1 m) in relative elevation.
All these ranges decrease in altitude from west to east. In the depressions that border the Pe-shan swelling on north and south are found the sedimentary deposits of the Tertiary
sea of the Han-hai, but no traces of those deposits have been found on the swelling itself at altitudes of 5600 to 5700 feet (1,737.4 m). Hence, Futterer infers, in recent geological times no large sea has occupied the central part of the Gobi.
(1889-1890 explorer), that the Yue-chi
(Yuezhi
), a nomadic people akin to the Tibet
ans, proceeded when, towards the middle of the 2nd century BCE, they moved westwards and settled near Lake Issyk-kul; and from here proceeded also the Shanshani
, or people who some two thousand years ago founded the state of Shanshan
or Lofi-lan. The ruins of this town were discovered by Sven Hedin
in the desert of Lop in 1901. Here, says the Russia
n explorer, the Huns
gathered strength, as also did the Turks
(Ch. Tukiu) in the 6th century, and the Uighur
tribes and the rulers of the Tangut kingdom. But after Genghis Khan
, in the 12th century, drew away the peoples of this region, and no others came to take their place, the country went out of cultivation and eventually became the barren desert it is now. During the Hun time, and probably into the Middle Age, the present desert was a lush steppe grassland able to support sustainable seasonal nomadic horse husbandry on a large scale.
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
that occupies the space between the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
system on the north and the Nan-shan Mountains on the south, and is connected on the west with the Desert of Lop.
Przhevalsky, 1879
This classic account is that of Nikolai PrzhevalskyNikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky and Prjevalsky, ; —), was a Russian geographer of Polish background and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa in Tibet, he travelled through regions unknown to the west, such as northern Tibet, modern Qinghai and...
, who crossed the desert from Hami (or Khumul) to Suchow
Suzhou
Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
in the summer of 1879.
The middle of the desert rises into a plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
80 miles (128.7 km) across, which reaches an average elevation of 5000 feet (1,524 m) and a maximum elevation of 5500 feet (1,676.4 m). On its northern and southern borders it is overtopped by two divisions of the Bey-san (Pe-shan) Mountains, which are isolated hills or groups of hills only a few hundred feet higher than the plateau. They are separated from the Kuruk-tagh by a well-marked bay of the former Central Asian Mediterranean (Lop Nur
Lop Nur
Lop Lake or Lop Nur is a group of small, now seasonal salt lake sand marshes between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China.The lake system into which the Tarim...
).
Between the northern division and the Karlyk-tagh range (or east Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
), there is an undulating barren plain, 3900 feet (1,188.7 m) in altitude and 40 miles (64.4 km) from north to south, sloping downwards from both north and south towards the middle, where lies the oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
of Hami (2,800 ft). Similarly, from the southern division of the Bey-san, a second plain slopes down for 1000 feet (304.8 m) to the valley of the river Bulunzir (or Su-lai-ho), which comes out of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, from the south side of the Great Wall, and finally empties itself into the lake of Kalachi (or Kara-nor). From the Bulunzir the same plain continues southwards at a level of 3700 feet (1,127.8 m) to the foot of the Nan-shan Mountains. The total breadth of the desert here, from north to south, is 200 miles (321.9 km).
Its general character is that of an undulating plain, dotted over with occasional elevations of clay, which present the appearance of walls, table-topped mounds and broken towers (jardangs), the surface of the plain being strewn with gravel and destitute of vegetation. The swelling or undulating plain between these two ranges of the Bey-san measures about 70 miles (112.7 km) across and is traversed by several stretches of high ground having generally an east-west direction.
Futterer, 1896
Karl Josef Futterer, who crossed the same desert twenty years after Przhevalsky, agrees generally in his description of it, but supplements the account of the latter explorer with several particulars. He observes that the ranges in this part of the Gobi are much worn down and wasted, like the Kuruk-tagh farther west and the tablelandsPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
of Southeast Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
farther east, through the effects of century-long insolation
Insolation
Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. It is commonly expressed as average irradiance in watts per square meter or kilowatt-hours per square meter per day...
, wind erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
, great and sudden changes of temperature, chemical action and occasional water erosion. Vast areas towards the north consist of expanses of gently sloping clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, intermingled with gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
. He points out also that the greatest accumulations of sand and other products of wind scouring do not occur in the deepest parts of the depressions but at the outlets of the valleys and glens, and along the foot of the ranges which flank the depressions on the south. Wherever water has been, desert scrub is found, such as tamarisks
Tamarix
The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa...
, Dodartia orientalis, Agriophzyllum gobicum, Calligonium sinnex, and Lycium ruthenicum, but all with their roots elevated on little mounds in the same way as the tamarisks grow in the Taklamakan
Taklamakan
The Taklamakan Desert , also known as Taklimakan and Teklimakan, is a desert in Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...
and the desert of Lop.
Farther east, towards central Mongolia, the relations, says Futterer, are the same as along the Hami-Su-chow route, except that the ranges have lower and broader crests, and the detached hills are more denuded and more disintegrated. Between the ranges occur broad, flat, cauldron-shaped valleys and basins, almost destitute of life except for a few hares and a few birds, such as the crow and the pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
, and with scanty vegetation, but no great accumulations of drift-sand. The rocks are severely weathered on the surface, a thick layer of the coarser products of denudation covers the flat parts and climbs a good way up the flanks of the mountain ranges, but all the finer material, sand and clay has been blown away partly southeast into the Ordos
Ordos Desert
The Ordos Desert is a desert and steppe region lying on a plateau in the south of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . The soil of the Ordos is a mixture of clay and sand and, as a result, is poorly suited for agriculture. It extends over an area of...
, partly into the Chinese provinces of Shen-si and Shan-si, where it is deposited as loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
, and partly west, where it chokes all the southern parts of the basin of the Tarim. In these central parts of the Gobi, as indeed in all other parts except the desert of Lop and Ordos, the prevailing winds blow from the west and northwest. These winds are warm in summer, and it is they which in the desert of Hami bring the fierce sandstorms
Dust storm
A dust / sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil to move from one place and deposition...
or burans. The wind does blow also from the northeast, but it is then cold and often brings snow, which clears the air of the usual dust haze.
In summer, great heat is encountered here on the relatively low (3000-4600 feet), gravelly expanses on the north and on those Of the south (4000-5000 feet); but on the higher ground between, which in the Pe-shan ranges ascends to 7550 feet (2,301.2 m), there is great cold even in summer, and a wide daily range of temperature. Above the broad and deep accumulations of the products of denudation which have been brought down by the rivers from the Tian Shan ranges (e.g. the Karlyk-tagh) on the north and from the Nanshan on the south, and have filled up the cauldron-shaped valleys, there rises a broad swelling, built up of granitic
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
rocks, crystalline schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
s and metamorphosed sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
s of both Archaic and Palaeozoic age, all greatly folded and tilted up, and shot through with numerous irruptions of volcanic rock
Volcanic rock
Volcanic rock is a rock formed from magma erupted from a volcano. In other words, it is an igneous rock of volcanic origin...
s, predominantly porphyritic
Porphyritic
Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology, specifically for igneous rocks, for a rock that has a distinct difference in the size of the crystals, with at least one group of crystals obviously larger than another group...
and dioritic
Diorite
Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene. It may contain small amounts of quartz, microcline and olivine. Zircon, apatite, sphene, magnetite, ilmenite and sulfides occur as accessory...
. On this swelling rise four more or less parallel mountain ranges of the Pe-shan system, together with a fifth chain of hills farther south, all having a strike from westnorthwest to eastnortheast. The range farthest north rises to 1000 feet (304.8 m) above the desert and 7550 feet (2,301.2 m) above sea-level, the next two ranges reach 1300 feet (396.2 m) above the general level of the desert, and the range farthest south 1475 feet (449.6 m) or an absolute altitude of 7200 feet (2,194.6 m), while the fifth chain of hills does not exceed 650 feet (198.1 m) in relative elevation.
All these ranges decrease in altitude from west to east. In the depressions that border the Pe-shan swelling on north and south are found the sedimentary deposits of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
sea of the Han-hai, but no traces of those deposits have been found on the swelling itself at altitudes of 5600 to 5700 feet (1,737.4 m). Hence, Futterer infers, in recent geological times no large sea has occupied the central part of the Gobi.
Inhabitants (or lack thereof)
Beyond an occasional visit from a band of nomad Mongols, this region of the Pe-shan swelling is entirely uninhabited. And yet it was from this region, according to G.Grumm-GrzhimayloGrigory Grumm-Grzhimaylo
Grigory Yefimovich Grumm-Grzhimaylo was a Russian entomologist, best known for his expeditions to Central Asia , West Mongolia and Tuva, and the Russian Far East.-Life and work:...
(1889-1890 explorer), that the Yue-chi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
(Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
), a nomadic people akin to the Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
ans, proceeded when, towards the middle of the 2nd century BCE, they moved westwards and settled near Lake Issyk-kul; and from here proceeded also the Shanshani
Shanshan
Shanshan is the Chinese name for a kingdom that existed roughly from 200 BCE-1000 CE at the north-eastern end of the Taklamakan Desert including the great, but now mostly dry, salt lake known as Lop Nur....
, or people who some two thousand years ago founded the state of Shanshan
Shanshan
Shanshan is the Chinese name for a kingdom that existed roughly from 200 BCE-1000 CE at the north-eastern end of the Taklamakan Desert including the great, but now mostly dry, salt lake known as Lop Nur....
or Lofi-lan. The ruins of this town were discovered by Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
in the desert of Lop in 1901. Here, says the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n explorer, the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
gathered strength, as also did the Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
(Ch. Tukiu) in the 6th century, and the Uighur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
tribes and the rulers of the Tangut kingdom. But after Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
, in the 12th century, drew away the peoples of this region, and no others came to take their place, the country went out of cultivation and eventually became the barren desert it is now. During the Hun time, and probably into the Middle Age, the present desert was a lush steppe grassland able to support sustainable seasonal nomadic horse husbandry on a large scale.