While most researchers agree onmakan being thePersian word for "place", etymology ofTakla is less clear. The word may be aUyghur borrowing of the Persiantark, "to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon" +makan.[1][2] Another plausible explanation suggests it is derived fromTurkitaqlar makan, describing "the place of ruins".[3][4] Chinese scholarsWang Guowei andHuang Wenbi linked the name to theTocharians, a historical people of the Tarim Basin, making the meaning of "Taklamakan" similar to "Tocharistan".[5] According to Uyghur researcher Turdi Mettursun Kara, the name Taklamakan comes from the expression Terk-i Mekan. The name is first mentioned as Terk-i Makan (ترك مكان / trk mkan) in the book called Tevarih-i Muskiyun, which was written in 1867 in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang.[6]
Infolk etymology, it is said to mean "Place of No Return" or "get in and you'll never get out".[7][8][9][10]
The Taklamakan Desert has an area of 337,000 km2 (130,000 sq mi),[11] making it slightly smaller than Germany. The desert is part of theTarim Basin, which is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of theSilk Road, by which travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.[12] It is the world's second-largest shifting sand desert, with about 85% made up of shifting sand dunes,[13] ranking 16th in size in a ranking of the world'slargest deserts.[14] Dunes range in height from 60 feet (18 m) up to as much as 300 feet (91 m). The few breaks in this sea of sand are small patches of alluvial clay. Generally, the steeper sides of the dunes face away from the prevailing winds.[15] The Taklamakan, as with all of Outer China, is a land of extremes, with hot summers and cold winters. Sandstorms are likely and dangerous. In many cases, permanent settlement is only by oases.
As a shifting sand desert, sand dunes constantly shift under the influence of the wind. As a result, moving sand dunes erode grasslands and residential areas.
"When I woke up one morning, I found I couldn't open the door because of the weight of sand that had accumulated overnight. My crops were buried too, so I had no choice but to move" -Memet Simay,Qira County resident[16]
In 1978, the Chinese government launched theGreen Great Wall project, aiming to create a forest chain extending from Xinjiang toHeilongjiang in northern China, to preventdesertification as well as harness the region's renewable energy potential. It is one of the largestafforestation projects in the world.[16] By 2024, a 3,050-kilometre (1,900-mile) green belt had been completed, encircling the desert with sand-stabilizing vegetation and solar-powered sand control systems.[18][19]
The project involved plantingdesert poplar,saxaul, and red willow trees, particularly in southern areas likeYutian County. These efforts aim to reduce sandstorms, protect infrastructure, and improve ecological stability.[19]
The initiative complements infrastructure developments such as theHotan–Ruoqiang railway, the first railway loop around a desert and large-scale renewable energy projects. Plans by theChina Three Gorges Corporation include the construction of 8.5 gigawatts of solar power and 4 gigawatts of wind energy generation capacity in the region.[19]
Desert life nearYarkandSand dunes captured by NASA's Landsat-7
Because it lies in therain shadow of the Himalayas, the Taklamakan has a colddesert climate. Given its relative proximity with the cold to frigidair masses inSiberia, extreme temperatures are recorded in wintertime, sometimes well below −20 °C (−4 °F), while in summer they can rise up to 40 °C (104 °F). During the2008 Chinese winter storms episode, the Taklamakan was reported to be covered, for the first time in its recorded history, entirely with a thin layer of snow, reaching 4 centimetres (1.6 in), with a temperature of −26.1 °C (−15 °F) in some observatories.[20]
Its extreme inland position, effectively at the very center of Asia, and thousands of kilometres from any open body of water, accounts for its somewhat widediurnal temperature variation.
Spring, when wind patterns shift and the especially dry land with minimal vegetation warms rapidly, is peak dust storm season,[21] especially in the southern part of the desert. The sun heats near-surface dust, fueling pockets ofconvection. Satellite observations by the JapaneseHimawari-9 show the dust creeping upward in mountain valleys throughout the day.[22] Data fromNASA'sMODIS instruments show 1.5% decrease in the amount of atmospheric dust in the area each year since the early 2000s.[23]
Climate data for Taklamakan Desert (Tazhong), elevation 1,099 m (3,606 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010)
Map including the Taklamakan Desert (1917)TheMolcha (Moleqie) River forms a vastalluvial fan at the southern border of the Taklamakan Desert, as it leaves theAltyn-Tagh mountains and enters the desert in the western part of theQiemo County. The left side appears blue from water flowing in many streams. The picture is taken in May, when the river is full with the snow/glacier meltwater.[26]
The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, making it hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on theSilk Road would stop for relief at its thrivingoasis towns.[27] It was in close proximity to many ancient civilizations—to the Northwest is theAmu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such asAlmaty can be found.[clarification needed]
Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited byTurkic peoples. TheIndo-European-speaking Tocharians were assimilated by the Turkic Uyghurs whomigrated into the Tarim Basin around the 9th century. Starting with theHan dynasty, the Chinese sporadically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan Desert to control importantsilk road trade routes across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic,Mongol andTibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of TurkicUyghur people and ethnicHan Chinese.[31]
This desert was explored by several scholars, includingXuanzang, a 7th-century Buddhist monk, and, in the 20th century, the archaeologistAurel Stein.[citation needed]
Atmospheric studies have shown that dust originating from the Taklamakan is blown over the Pacific, where it contributes to cloud formation over theWestern United States. Further, the traveling dust redistributes minerals from the Taklamakan to the western U.S. via rainfall.[32] Studies have shown that a specific class of mineral found in the dust, known asK-feldspar, triggers ice formation particularly well. K-feldspar is particularly susceptible to corrosion by acidic atmospheric pollution, such as nitrates and phosphates; exposure to these constituents reduces the ability of the dust to trigger water droplet formation.[33]
In May 2023, China announced that it would drill a hole to around 11 kilometres (36,000 ft) depth to investigate the layers ofcrust in that area. It will not be as deep as theKola Superdeep Borehole (12,262 metres (40,230 ft).[34]
The issue No. 39Soft Places of Neil Gaiman'sThe Sandman takes place in the desert, whenMarco Polo gets lost in the desert.
A portion of the Korean quasi-historical TV drama seriesQueen Seondeok takes place in the Taklamakan Desert. Sohwa escapes from Silla with baby Deokman and raises her in the desert. As a teenager, Deokman returns to Silla and uses the knowledge and experience gained from life among international traders in the Taklamakan trading centers to gain the throne of Silla.
The desert is showcased in the Japanese animationMobile Suit Gundam 00, set in the year 2307. On the series, the Taklamakan Desert is the setting of a large-scale military joint operation performed by all the world's blocks of power, and interdicted by the paramilitary organization Celestial Being.
^Fox, Douglas (December 22, 2014)."The Dust Detectives".High Country News. Vol. 46, no. 22.Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. RetrievedSeptember 2, 2017.
Tamm, Eric Enno (2010).The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds. Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley: Douglas & McIntyre.ISBN9781553652694 (cloth);ISBN978-1-55365-638-8 (ebook).
Warner, Thomas T. (2004).Desert Meteorology. Cambridge University Press, 612 pages.ISBN0-521-81798-6.
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