Gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert is the fifth largest desert in the world, spanning across northern China and southern Mongolia. It measures about 1.3 million square kilometers (about 500,000 square miles). The name Gobi comes from the Mongolian word gobi meaning “waterless place.” It is a cold desert, so its temperatures can fall to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, during the summer, temperatures occasionally rise to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. As a rain shadow desert, much of its rain is blocked by the Himalayas, so it only receives about seven inches of rain each year. It lies in a basin on a high plateau with elevations ranging from 910 to 1,500 meters (3,000 to 5,000 feet) above sea level.

The Gobi Desert has actually been expanding in size each year due to desertification. Desertification is the degradation of once fertile land into desert. Although the Gobi Desert is growing, China is losing valuable grassland. In fact, the Chinese government has announced plans to plant the Green Wall of China, a new line of forest intended to slow the desert’s expansion.

There are several protected areas for the ecosystem that are largely undisturbed parts of the vast desert. These take the form of nature reserves in the Gobi. One of these is the Great Gobi. In recognition of its unique qualities, the Great Gobi was created by the Mongolian government in 1975. In 1991, the UN designated the Great Gobi as an international Biosphere reserve. The protected area is divided into two parts, the Southern Alta Gobi (Gobi A) and the Dzungarian Gobi (Gobi B). Each part is ecologically different. The larger Gobi A is home to plants and animals of the deserts of Central Asia. Moving south, the climate becomes increasingly arid, so this region is largely void of plants that cannot grow in dry washes and depressions. Gobi B is ecologically similar to the deserts of both Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Vegetation is more plentiful because of greater precipitation.

Historically, people have had relatively little impact on the Gobi Desert when compared to other ecosystems. Still, various types of human activity hurt the desert. The majority of people who live in the Gobi desert are Mongolian. Because of the harsh environment, which prevents most forms of livelihood, the major occupation of its residents is nomadic cattle herding. It is nomadic because the people must continuously look for more water when one location’s supply runs out. The land is vulnerable to trampling by livestock. Additionally, off road vehicles leave tracks on the soil, which can scar the land for decades. Also, the tracks kill vegetation and, as a result, animals. This desert is also the source of many fossil fuels. In fact, the first dinosaur eggs were identified there. There are also theories that because of the collapse of urban economy and economic trends of livestock privatization, many people will return to rural lifestyles. This fragile ecosystem may not be able to handle permanent human residents.

The Gobi Desert was once thought to be one of the world’s last great wildernesses, but now appears to be the center of the greatest resource boom. Tavan Tolgoi is thought to be the biggest deposit of coking coal on the planet. Other mega-mines are expected to follow. By 2020, the extraction is expected to triple Mongolia’s national economy, which will propel the impoverished population of 2.6 million into the global middle class. China is likely to buy a majority of the coal as it now accounts for 85% of Mongolia’s exports. However, locals fear that this will devastate the arid environment as the mines dry up the limited water supply and damage the grasslands. The mining operation will also require more roads and electricity grids to hurt wildlife and disrupt the migration patterns of local species. The next mega-mine will be Oyu Tolgoi, which, once beginning operations in 2012, is expected to produce 450,000 tons of copper every year for fifty years.

Increased CO₂levels and climate change also have an effect on the Gobi Desert. There are still uncertainties regarding the potential effects of climate change on the environment. However, General Circulation Models predict fluctuating patterns of drier and wetter conditions for the next century. If deserts respond more drastically to global temperature change, like they did during the Holocene and, especially the last interglacial era, they might act as globally signiﬁcant sinks of carbon into soils and vegetation. Results of order-of-magnitude biomass changes in arid zones are important in understanding the behavior of the carbon cycle since the last interglacial.

While human impact on the Gobi Desert may not be as dramatic as on other ecosystems, it is still important that we improve the human-ecosystem interaction. Some key goals for everyone are to reduce our dependence on coal and limit our CO₂emissions. Also, when visiting a desert, one should not use off-roading vehicles. These simple steps will help to ensure the preservation of this magnificent ecosystem.

Gobi Desert

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Sources

Pictures of the Gobi Desert

Gobi Desert