Facts about the Taklamakan Desert:
– the second largest mobile sand desert in the world, approximately 85% of which consists of mobile sand dunes.
– on the outskirts of the Taklamakan, significant areas are occupied by salt marshes.
– rivers flowing from the Kunlun penetrate into the Taklamakan for 100-200 km, gradually drying up in the sands.
– the depth of groundwater in the depressions of the relief (within the ancient deltas and old rivers) is 3-5 m, they are usually difficult for plants to access.
– the climate is sharply continental, with an insignificant (less than 50 mm per year) amount of precipitation.
– in 2008, during an episode of winter storms in China, the Taklamakan was completely covered for the first time in the history of observations with a thin layer of snow, reaching 4 cm, with a temperature of -26.1 °C.
– in the windiest areas, sand dunes move an average of 20 m per year; therefore, bridges (viaducts) have been built in such areas to allow sand to pass underneath them, and trains and railways are less exposed to sandstorms.