Characteristics and ecosystems of the Gobi desert

Geography

The Gobi Desert: Its Past and Future

The Gobi Desert is one of the most striking natural phenomena in the world. It is the world's northernmost desert, interestingly enough home to the world's southernmost glacier in Gobi's Yol Valley (Spritzer 20). The Gobi Desert is truly an expansive and barren area. It is an arc of desert roughly 1,000 miles in length, which varies from between 300 miles and 600 miles in width. Despite the general conception of a desert as full of sand, much of the Gobi desert is only barren rock. The sand and dirt have been blown eastward into China by ceaseless and powerful winds ("Gobi").

The Gobi Desert is situated across the border between Mongolia and China. Much of it is in southern Mongolia, but parts of the desert stretch into northern China (Wirtanen and Wirtanen 98). Despite being remote and harsh, the Gobi is home to a diverse series of landscapes and geographical features. For instance, rather than existing as a single, monolithic desert, the Gobi actually consists of a series of discrete desert areas bordered by enormous mountain ranges. Of course, since the Gobi Desert covers an area of more than 500,000 square miles, it shouldn't be entirely surprising to learn that it consists of a multitude of geographical features -- albeit most of the extremely arid. The Gobi Desert sits at an average elevation of 5,200 feet, roughly one mile above sea level, a fact that contributes to the harshness of the environment and the terrain (Sadler 76).

Many of the geographical features of the Gobi Desert were formed because of the effects of plate tectonics over millions of years. At one time, the Gobi Desert region was at the convergence of two tectonic plates, a fact that helped shape the unique geographic features of the region. More recently in geological terms, the Gobi Desert region has felt the effect of the Indian subcontinent tectonic plate moving northward into Asia. While this movement has had the immediate effect of driving the Himalayas upward, the pressure of this convergence has consistently spilled to the east and west. It has fractured the Gobi landscape and helped drive much of the region up into higher elevations (Sadler 76-79). When we consider the major geologic and geographic features of the region, plate tectonics must be seen as a primary cause in their formation.

But there are other, more immediate, forces that have shaped the geographic features of the Gobi Desert over time. These include the ceaseless winds and seasonal streams that shape the terrain. The winds are powerful enough to prevent dirt from settling through the Gobi, making plant life difficult in most of the area. The rain, averaging only 2-4 inches annually, comes in seasonal bursts that sometimes result in flash floods. Temperatures throughout the Gobi Desert are equally extreme, with lows records at -40 degree Fahrenheit and highs of 113 degrees Fahrenheit (Sadler 76). All of these climatic and geologic forces have combined to shape the landscape throughout the Gobi Desert. They have created immense megadunes a quarter of a mile tall held together by sparse deposits of subsurface water (Middleton 60). This doesn't even include the normal sized sand dunes, grassland plateaus frequented by nomadic herdsmen, badlands, and towering mountain ranges (Sadler 76).

Though we might be surprised to find human effects on a landscape this harsh and this remote, human beings have left their mark on the Gobi Desert, with settlements found dating back 4,000 years (Middleton 59). Of Mongolia's population of only 2.2 million, 40% make their lives as nomads on the grasslands of the Gobi Desert. These nomads will travel 20 to 100 miles every few months just to provide their herds with enough sustenance (Spritzer 20; Wirtanen and Wirtanen 98). These nomads have not had a significant ecological impact on the region, as their low population and transitory lifestyle reduces immediate environmental impacts. But new developments are occurring that threaten the pristine landscape. The remoteness of the Gobi Desert has made it an increasingly attractive destination for ecotourists. Numerous paleontologic finds attract researchers and scientists every year. Oil and mineral deposits have also attracted Westerners interested in the possibility of making small fortunes in the desolate Gobi Desert ("Gobi"; "Spritzer 20). In all, we can expect that this new interest in the Gobi Desert by Westerners will have the effect of increasing human impacts on the region.