Desert_56

The Gobi Desert is a large desert or brushland region in Asia. In Mandarin, it is called Gobi (戈壁) meaning brushland. It covers parts of Northern and Northeastern 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 Taklamakan Desert to the west, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road.



The Gobi is a rain shadow desert, formed by the Tibetan Plateau blocking precipitation from the Indian Ocean reaching the Gobi territory.


In area, it is over 500,000 square miles. The Gobi desert is in northern China and in southern Mongolia. Not like “hot” deserts, the Gobi is covered with frost, and occasionally with snow, on its dunes. This desert is not all sand, but it is covered with rock and shifting sands. The temperature can change from 35 degrees F. to minus 63 degrees F. in one day. Even though there are extreme temperature changes, more than 44 different species of animals and birds thrive there. The Gobi desert is the source of many important fossil discoveries. The first dinosaur eggs were found in the Gobi!