Main scenic spots of Badain Jaran Sub-park
Spot 1：Desert Geopark Museum
Desert Geopark Museum(Alxa Youqi)
The Museum of Alxa Desert National Geopark, with a construction area of 2,203 m2, was completed in September, 2007. Its outline is designed in the shape of sand dunes, the museum composed of the prologue hall, exhibition hall, and resources hall, meeting hall, VIP hall, visitor center and the room for scientific popularization. Through a lot of ways, such as photos, interpretation, electronic equipment display, interactive items and specimen exhibition, this museum is successful in displaying the various geoheritage types, natural beauties and unique cultural history in the geopark.
The major monument of the geopark is 20.07 m high, and the auxiliary monument is 16.09 m high, which looks like a graduated ruler. There is a square of the geopark covering an area of 53,000 m2. The Service Center covers a construction area of 1,864 m2, containing an Aid-Support Station and a Reception Center. This museum is well equipped and can provide services including accommodation, aid and support, tourism, restaurant and entertainment.
Spot 2 ：Badain Jaran Desert
As the third largest desert in China, Badain Jaran Desert is mainly located in the eastern Bengkulu Lake in east of Weak Water, western Zongnai Mountain and the Yyabrai Hill, southern Guaizi Lake, and northern North Hill. There is a small number of residual hills and peneplain of the bedrock surface in the eastern, southern and northern fringes of the Badain Jaran Desert (Figure 3-3). There are Pleistocene lacustrine sediments about 1.8-0.7 million years ago in sand mountain and lake areas in southeast of the Badain Jaran Desert, and the other parts of the desert is covered by sand.
The Badain Jaran Desert (Figure 4-8) has three salient features: (1) The tall dune is heavily distributed, and it amounts for about 60 percent of the total area of the desert (up to Zhu Zhen, 1980), mainly located in the middle of the desert. The pattern of the sand hill has three types, one is the tall dune whose windward slope is with superimposed dune, one is the tall dune whose windward slope is without superimposed dune, and the last one is pyramid-shaped sand dune. (2) The quicksand accounts for 85 percent of the desert, but sparse plants grow on the surface of it. The plants in western desert are mainly Calligonum ephedra, and the plants in eastern part are mainly Artemisia seed sand bamboo. These plants cover about 1 / 3 of the whole dune area. (3) There are 144 desert lakes widely distributing between sand dunes, concentrating in southeastern desert, and most of them are salt lakes. However, there is an upward Stephen or downward Stephen exposed in the edge of Lake Basin in the center of small lakes, and the water quality is good.
The basic character of Badain Jaran Desert
(After Zhu Zhenda, 1980)
There are different views about the historical periods of the Badain Jaran Desert formation, including the views from 530 million years’ Pliocene to 1 million years’ Holocene. However, the formation of the Badain Jaran Desert is the joint result of climate, topography and sand: (1) Climatic factors, the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau changes the atmospheric circulation here, in addition to far distance from oceans and drought; (2) Topography, the Badain Jaran Desert is located in the Alxa Depression Basin; (3) Sand material, the thick alluvial deposits and lake sediments under Qilianshan Mountain, which are loose deposits, become an important source of desert material; (4) Wind power, the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 13 million years ago divide wester circulation into two. The north branch enteres into China from Mongolia, and divided into teams as a result of the block of Qilian and Kunlun Mountains and block is. The other one enter the Alxa Plateau, and formed the strong northwest wind.
The Badain lake in Badain Jaran Desert
The Badain lake is the nearest desert lake to Ekenhudu town, and it is also one of the few fresh water in Badain Jaran Desert. Since the senery of the Badain lake is elegant and beautiful, just like a mosaic resplendent pearl in Badain Jaran Desert, the Badain lake is also called “Gem Lake” by local people. Badain Jaran Desert derives its name from the lake.
The Badain lake is the transfer station in Badain Jaran Desert, which has good accommodation facilities for desert tourism.
Spot 4： The bedrock（near Ikle Obo）
The bedrock（near Ikle Obo）
The rock which exposed out of surface is weathered, and then is eroded and transported by the wind or flowing water. The residual hard part is called bedrock. The bedrock located near Ikle obo is about 5-6 km2. With the abrasion of the running water, many gulleys formed in it. And the rock mainly is sandstone with gravels which was loose structure, poorly sorted, better psephicity. It is presumed that the bedrock here was formed in Neogene（about 8 Ma BP）. The exposure of bedrock is important for studying the underlying bedrock in the desert.
Spot 5： Suminjilin Lake
Suminjilin Lake
Suminjilin Lake’s name comes from the splendid Badain Jaran Temple. The lake is also salty and the main axis is about 2000m（Figure 4-11）. The lake is at low eutrophication level and the salty water is nearly saturated. The water proportion becomes larger, and the buoyancy also increases greatly. The lake is called the “Dead Sea” in Badain Jaran, even people who can’t swim will not sink. The lakeshore develops wave ripples. The lake is clear and in azrre blue, sparkling. Sand dune, ancient temple and green grass reflect on the lake, just like a lone and peaceful paradise.
Spot 6： Tingjing Spring
Tingjing spring
Tingjing Spring is a fresh-water spring in Suminjilin Lake. The spring is next to Badain Jaran Temple, so it’s called Tingjing Spring. It’s said that the spring can hear the voice of votaries pray to Buddha, and the flux will obviously increase with the sound of votaries pray to Buddha. Even now when visitors yell in front of the spring , flows with the spring water bead also increases obviously high（Figure 4-13）. Why the flow of spring will obviously increase with the sound of votaries pray to Buddha? In fact, there is a thick layer of mud covered on the basement of Suminjilin Lake. The key point is the mud contains the saturated groundwater and is very soft. People walk or cry near the lake will cause vibration, and the seismic waves spread with the mud that contains water. At the same time, it produces extrusion force which will cause the flux increased when encounters the cracks in the center of the lake. As a result, it causes the magical phenomenon that the spring can hear the voice of votaries pray to Buddha.
Spot 7： Yindeertu Lake
Yindeertu Lake
Yindeertu Lake locates in the south-east of Birut which in the abdomen of Badain Jaran Desert, belonging to salty lake. The lake looks like a new-born baby( Figure 4-14). The area of the lake is 0.9 km2, the deepset water depth is 8m ( Yang Xiaoping, 2000). The golden sand dune encircles the lake which is splendid; the brezze blows over the blue lake just like the desert blinks its bright eyes. There are many spring mouth in the lake, the clear and sweet spring spurts out and causes water split. The reed in the lakeshore grows well and gentle breeze flicks through the lake, which makes people feel relaxed and happy!
Spot 8： Magic spring
Magic spring
Magic spring lies in Yindeertu Lake. There is a piece of reef with an area of 3m2, on which 108 springs heads distribute. The clear and sweet spring water continually flows all the year round, so local people call it “sacred water”. The spring water contains many elements necessary to body, and is unusual mineral water and can cure disease. Every year a lot of herdsmen and visitors come to fetch the spring water from distance.
However, where is the sweet spring water coming from? Actually, magic spring belongs to aquifer groundwater, the water table is lower below the reef, while the surrounding water table is higher, therefore the groundwater gathers from the surrounding to the centre. The pressure caused by this makes the groundwater upwelling and emits from the cracks of the rocks continuously.
Spot 9： Birut Compound Longitudinal Dunes
Birut Compound Longitudinal Dunes
Birut is the highest sand dune in Badain Jaran desert. It has an elevation of 1607m, the relative height is over 500m ,and is higher than the sand peak(430m) in Algeria. Birut is very grand and magnificent and called” The first desert peak ”in the world. After climbing the splendid Birut, you will appreciate vast sand hill and Hu Hejilin and other seven beautiful lakes . You will can’t help praising the beauty of ,golden vast sand dune and blue and clear lake. People feel like in paradise when they are in Birut.
Spot 10： Dongnuoertu Lake
Nuoertu Lake
Nuoertu Lake is the most beautiful lake in Badain Jaran desert. It looks like crescent,and the main axis is about 2000m. The most depth of Dongnuoertu Lake is about 30m and it’s the deepest salty lake in the desert. The lake contains many springs and has a slight salinization. The sand peak here are meandering and stretch long; the lake is blue, the aquatic and reed grows well in the lakefront, the gentle breeze blows, which reflects the “south China” senenry in the desert. Nuoertu lake provides the largest-scaled services during the tourist line in Badain Jaran Desert.
Spot 11： Singing sands of Baoritaolegai
Singing sands of Baoritaolegai
Singing sand, also called sounding sand, is a kind of peculiar natural phenomenon in the desert, in particular, it refers to the phenomenon that the dry, loose sand which sent out kinds of different unusual sound in special natual environment or under the suffering of extemal force; the main type of singing sand includes: inland singing sand, seashore singing sand, lakeside singing sand and riparian singing sand. The inland singing sand takes the Badain Jaran Desert as the most, the distribution of the known singing sand amounts to 50km2, the sound of singing sand is great and distant here, is honored as “the kingdom of the world’s singing sand”.
Baoritaolegai locates in the edge of Badain Jaran Desert, the singing sand mountains here are over 200m high. Gliding downward from the sand ridge, with stirring the sand slope with both hands, it can send out the “rumbling” sound llike airplane and thunder which could be heared clearly miles away, even uses the finger to delimit may also incite the noise. This kind of phenonmenon is actually rare in the natural landscape in China and foreign countries. At the bottom of the singing sand mountain, there are limpid fresh water, which is bright and clear, the spring gurgling, and the gentle breeze makes people pleased.
Spot 12： Wind erosion landform of Haishenchulu
Haisenchulu is one of the typical regions to study the wind geological process in North China.The rock which forms the wind erosion landform of Haisenchulu is the granite about 150 million years from now. Beacause the granite’s mineral particles is coarse, the structure is loose, the ability of anti-wind erosion is relatively weak, in addtion, the annual average wind of this region is 3m/s and in many parts it even reaches 4～5m/s. The strong wind and the blowing sand make the granite abrasion for a long time, as time passing, it forms the typical wind eroison landform.
Aeolian Niches
Wind erosion niche is the typical landform developed in granites, with an area of km2 was found in Haisenchulu scenic spot. The diameter of the wind erosion is about 0.1-1m. It was formed in the Jurassic granites. Direct sunlight and the different mineral expansion coefficient formed rocks weathering disintegration. The well developed joints and the climate conditions promoted the wind erosion niches forming.
Aeolian niches
Mushroom-like Stones
As a kind of granite aeolian landform, mushroom-like stones are mainly created by wind erosion and the differences in lithology. They are seen on base rocks in which aeolian niches develop. Their roots are roughly 1.5m high and their tops are flattish. With a long axis of roughly 3m and a short axis about 2m, the elliptic rocks look like pieces of mushrooms standing in the wilderness.
Mushroom-like rock
Granite heirographen（Piglet-like Stone）
Under the influence of wind erosion, a porky pig comes into being on cranny-developed granite walls. He closes his eyes and lies down in riprap silently, as if being sentimentally attached to the best of his own past.
Granite heirographen（Piglet-like Stone）
Four Tales of One Stone
The huge granite is a miniature of Haisenchulu wind erosion landform. The granite have 4 layers and represent 4 periods of the development, including initiation period, forming period, expansion period and decline period. At the bottom, rocks which were close to the ground had been weathering disintegration, left some countersinks and weathering residues. The second layer, the differences of the rock characters and the wind direction made the granite flat surface become irregularity. Because of wind action, there are lots of wind erosion niches in the third layer. At the top, wind erosion niches were slumped or declined. The strip in the middle of the rock is a quartz vein, which was formed late for granite.
Four Tales of One Stone
Spot 13：Eribugai Valley
Eribugai Valley
The rock of the valley is brownish red interbeded sandstones, conglomerates and develops large and parallel beddings. Because multistage and not even lift of the earth's crust, with the function of early period flowing water and wind erosion in the late, the surface of the rock face develops wind eroded dent. The bottom of the valley contains gravitational deposits because of gravity action. The valley deeps roughly 50 m, both sides are very steepe and the whole valley is wonderful.
