May 18, 200608:11 AMThe Life

Deserts of the world: Taklamakan

Geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi Desert region--the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami (Kumul)--as forming a separate and independent desert called the Taklamakan ("Place of No Return"), which covers 105,000 square miles of China.

[Image of International Space Station over the Taklamakan courtesy of NASA - click thumbnail photo for larger version.]

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