Badain Jaran Desert

A desert in western Inner Mongolia, China, distinguished by some of the world's tallest stationary dunes and hundreds of lakes nestled among them.

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Megadune: A very large dune or dune complex formed by the accumulation and movement of sand. The desert's highest landforms are enormous compound dunes, including the celebrated Bilutu Peak.
Bilutu Peak: A giant compound dune in the Badain Jaran Desert, commonly described as the world's tallest stationary dune. Its exceptional height makes it the desert's best-known example of a megadune.
Inner Mongolia: An autonomous region of northern China bordering Mongolia and Russia. The Badain Jaran Desert occupies the western part of this region.
Desertification: The degradation of dryland ecosystems through climatic variation and human activity. Land-use pressures around the desert can worsen soil and vegetation degradation.
Isotope hydrology: The use of stable and radioactive isotopes to trace water sources, movement, and age. Isotope measurements help test where the desert's lake water originates.
Barchan: A crescent-shaped dune whose horns point downwind, formed where sand is limited and winds are relatively steady. Smaller dune forms help explain the wind-driven patterns surrounding the desert's megadunes.
Badain Jaran Temple: A Buddhist temple beside a lake in the Badain Jaran Desert. The temple is a distinctive cultural landmark within the dune-and-lake landscape.
Alxa Plateau: An arid plateau in western Inner Mongolia, China, that includes several desert basins. The desert forms part of the plateau's dry landscape.
Arid-land ecology: The study of organisms and ecological processes in regions with low and unpredictable rainfall. It helps explain how plants and animals persist around the desert's lakes and dunes.
Paleoclimate: The climate of Earth's past, reconstructed from natural records such as sediments and fossils. Lake sediments can preserve evidence of past rainfall and environmental change.