Badain Jaran Desert

Badain Jaran Desert
Chinese: 巴丹吉林沙漠 pinyin: Bādānjílín Shāmò
The Badain Jaran lies in the People's Republic of China as a section of the Gobi Desert.
Area	49,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi)
Geography
Country	China
Provinces of China	Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Gansu Province Ningxia Province
Coordinates	40°4′21″N 102°12′36″E / 40.07250°N 102.21000°E / 40.07250; 102.21000

The Badain Jaran Desert (Chinese: 巴丹吉林沙漠; pinyin: Bādānjílín Shāmò) is a desert in China which spans the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. It covers an area of 49,000 square kilometers (19,000 sq mi; 12,000,000 acres). By size it is the third largest desert in China.

This desert is home to some of the tallest stationary dunes on Earth, with some reaching a height of more than 500 meters (1,600 ft; 0.31 mi), although most average at around 200 meters (660 ft). Its tallest dune is also measured, from base to peak, as the world's third tallest dune and highest stationary dune in the world.

The desert also features over 100 spring-fed lakes that lie between the dunes, some of which are fresh water while others are extremely saline. These lakes give the desert its name which is Mongolian for "mysterious lakes". These lakes are not completely studied and high pH lakes harbor extremely interesting animal communities.^[1] It is also crossed by one river, the Ruo Shui ("weak water"), which has formed an alluvial plain in the desert.^[2]