Introduction to Mt. Mandela Rock Paintings Scenic Area
The Mt. Mandela Rock Paintings Scenic Area is located in the east part of the Badain Jaran Sub-park, covering an area of 28.79 km2. There are about 4000 rock paintings on the wide exposure of the Mesozoic black basic rocks, which honestly record the economy, society and living environments of the nomads in the Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties, it is an art gallery of the ancient culture in northwestern China.
Introduction to Badain Jaran Desert Scenic Area
The Badain Jaran Desert Scenic Area is located in the southeastern part of Badain Jaran Desert, covering an area of 460.9km2. This scenic area owns the world’s highest sand hill — Birut, with a relative height of 500 m. There are 144 lakes inlayed among high sand hills. Besides, this area has the largest area of the singing sands in the world, which is reputed as a kingdom of singing sands. The Badain Jaran Temple, called as the Forbidden City in desert, was firstly built in 1791. On the southeastern margin of the Badain Jaran Desert, the first desert geopark museum—Museum of Alxa Desert National Geopark was completed in 2007.
Introduction to Haisenchuklu Wind-eroded Landform Scenic Area
The Haisenchulu Wind-eroded Landform Scenic Area is one of the typical sites to study the wind geological process in North China. The mother rock is the Jurassic diorite which was formed about 180 Ma to 150 Ma ago. Because the mineral particles of the rock are coarser, and its texture is looser, so the anti-wind erosion capability is relatively weak. In addition, the daily temperature difference is big and the wind force is strong (the annual average wind force over 3m/s), so the rapid weathering would take place due to the strong wind and large temperature difference. Day by day, the unique wind-eroded landforms, such as tafoni, mushroom-shaped stones, were occurred.
Introduction to Eribugai Valley Scenic Area
The Eribugai Valley Scenic Area, with an area of 10.12 km2, is an ideal site to understand, enjoy the landforms caused by flowing water and wind geological process. This valley is composed of the Jurassic-Cretaceous brownish red sandstone and conglomerate, the large-scale parallel beddings developed. Due to the multistage and uneven uplifting, added by the flowing water effect in the earlier stage and wind erosion in the later stage, the canyon landscape was formed. This canyon is about 50 m deep, with very steep walls, the whole scenery is magnificent. Due to the wind geological process, the tafoni are developed on the upper part of the steep walls. There are collapse accumulation on its bottom due to the gravitational effect and long-term weathering.
Introduction to Moon Lake Scenic Area
The Moon Lake scenic area, with an area of 72.51 km², is located in the Tengger Desert. The Moon Lake, one of 422 lakes in the desert, is a beautiful salty lake with an area of about 3 km². It looks like a crescent moon from the east, and a map of China from the west. In the ancient time, here was a unified big lake, which has been separated into numerous small lakes due to a long-term drought, the Moon Lake is one of them, which is supplied by the aquifer groundwater. This lake is surrounded by various sand dunes. With clear water, flourishing reeds, teeming fishes and rare birds, the Moon Lake Scenic Area is a state 4A-level tourist area, where is a good place for ecological and geological tourism.
Introduction to Tonghu Lake Scenic Area
The Tong Lake Scenic Area, with an area of 8.05 km2, lies on the southeastern margin of the Tengger Desert, this is one of the unique lakes in the desert. This lake is surrounded by sand dunes. With flourishing green grasses on the lakeside wetland, dotted by the flocks and herds, white yurts, colorful tents, together with the local minority culture, the Tonghu Lake Scenic Area is like a wonderland on Earth.
Introduction to Alunbulage Canyon Scenic Area
The Alunbulage Canyon Scenic Area is located in the northeastern area of Alxa Zuoqi, with an area of 50.94 km2, the major scenic spots include the Alunbulage Canyon Group, wind-eroded pillar and Camel Waterfall, etc. The Alunbulage Canyon is developed in the Jurassic-Cretaceous purplish red coarse-grained sandstone, formed by the earlier flowing water process and later wind erosion, this canyon is about 3 km long, 15 m deep, which is rare in North China. The Alunbulage Canyon is not only graceful in shape, but also important in understanding the local geological history and tectonic movements.
Introduction to Juyan Lake Scenic Area
The Juyan Lake is composed of the East Juyan Lake and West Juyan Lake, supplied by the Ejin River on its south. The Juyan Lake scenic area is dominated by the East Juyan Lake, with an area of 36 km2. In the past time, the Juyan Lake was much extensive than today, prosperous and rich. However, the environmental change led the West and East Juyan Lakes to be dried up in 1961 and 1992 respectively, which caused large-scale environmental deterioration. In recent years, water has been transferred into the Juyan Lake and the local environment has been basically recovered. Today, the Juyan lake is spectacular with its extensive water-covered area, so the Juyan Lake Scenic Area is an important site for understanding environmental change and protection for the public.
Introduction to Populus diversifolia Forest Scenic Area
Populus diversifolia tree in this scenic area is one of the oldest Popular species in the world, called as a “living plant fossil”, the Populus diversifolia Forest Scenic Area covers an area of 36.8km2, where was approved as a national nature reserve by the State Council in 2003. The Populus diversifolia tree belongs to a kind of deciduous arbors, growing in the areas near water source, it is salt and alkali resistant, growing fast, with strong vitality. There is a saying that which goes that “they can live for over 1000 years, stand dead for over 1000 years, and remain undecayed for over 1000 year after they even fall down”. It is a symbol of the spirit of the Mongolians.
Introduction to Black City Ruin Scenic Area
The Black City Ruin Scenic Area stands at the east bank of Ejin River, including a core protected area of 0.22 km2. A 12m-high Buddhist pagoda of upside-down bowl type stands at the northwest corner of the Black City Ruin, which is the unique symbol of this ruin. The buildings in the city are orderly arranged. This city was occupied by General Feng Sheng of the Ming Dynasty in 1372, but the government of Ming Dynasty abandoned this area. Since then, the Black City has been sealed for several centuries. The Black City ruin is the best-preserved ancient city on the Silk Road.
