Gurbantünggüt Desert
The Gurbantünggüt Desert (Chinese: 古尔班通古特沙漠; pinyin: Gǔ'ěrbāntōnggǔtè Shāmò, Uyghur: Гурбантүңгүт Қумлуқи) occupies a large part of the Dzungarian Basin in northern Xinjiang, in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is also called by some sources as Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, presumably from a Mongolian language.
It is approximately 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 mi²), and located around 300 to 600 meters above sea level. It is China's (and Xinjiang's) second largest desert, after Taklamakan Desert, which is located in the Tarim Basin.
A remote, arid, and rugged area, Gurbantünggüt Desert is separated by the Tian Shan mountains from the Ili River Basin, Turfan Depression, and the Tarim Basin of the southern Xinjiang. A chain of cities, the largest of which is Ürümqi, are located within a populated strip (the route of the Lanxin Railway) south of the desert, which is irrigated by glacier-fed streams flowing from the Tian Shan. The Irtysh–Karamay Canal, constructed during the first decade of the 21st century, skirts the deserts northwestern edge; the Irtysh–Ürümqi Canal crosses the desert's central part.
Several salt lakes are located in the western part of the Gurbantünggüt desert. This includes the Manas Lake (45°48′00″N 85°56′00″E / 45.80000°N 85.93333°E), which was in the past fed by the Manas River, but now has mostly dried out, and the Ailik Lake (45°56′00″N 85°47′00″E / 45.93333°N 85.78333°E), which receives water from the Baiyang River (which in its turn is replenished by the Irtysh–Karamay Canal).
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