The Gobi Desert

The Gobi is Asia’s largest desert, stretching nearly 1,000 miles east and west and nearly 5,000 miles north and south across large parts of Mongolia and China. Over all, it covers 500,000 square miles. The Gobi is expanding due to changes in land use, including farming, grazing animals, and destruction of the forests. Global climate change may also be a factor. The desert received less than eight inches of rainfall every year. And the Gobi is not just dry, but also very cold. It is nearly 3,000 feet above sea level, and so its temperatures are very low at times. It can be quite hot or quite cold, often in the same day. Winter days can be filled with snowstorms and icy sandstorms. Average low temperatures are -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Average highs are 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The Gobi Desert has massive rocky areas, large dry grasslands, and a good bit of sand, but it also has bodies of water. For archaeologist, the Gobi desert is a very interesting area as many significant findings have come from it. The first dinosaur egg ever discovered was found in the Gobi. Many dinosaur remains and fossils from 100 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, have been found there. Many species of animals and plants live in the desert. Animal residents include wild camels, sheep, lynxes, black-tailed gazelles, brown bears, and snow leopards. Plant life includes such hearty species as grey sagebrush and needle grass. Wildlife is threatened in Mongolia. The rare snow leopard is endangered, but has a refuge in the country’s nature reserves. People live in the desert as well, although many of them are nomads who follow herds of animals around. The Gobi has large deposits of copper and gold.

— Compiled by The Surfer