When you think of the Taklamakan Desert, you usually have in your mind the vast sea of sand and the sight of yellow sand flying under the hot sun. But in the north of this desert, which is like a death situation, there is a strange phenomenon, and every year a large number of birds fly into this vast sea of sand. What is in the midst of this vast sea of sand? Attract them to visit every year?
Located in the center of the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the mainland, the Taklamakan Desert covers an area of 330,000 square kilometers, making it the largest desert in the mainland. The wind and sand are raging all year round, hot and dry.
The area is covered in thick yellow sand, but on this seemingly barren land, for thousands of years, there has been a blue lake, which is the largest lake in Xinjiang and the largest inland freshwater lake in China.
Flocks of birds feed around fishing boats, and these birds inhabit the southwest side of Lake Bosten, in a stretch of water called Ursuteng. It is surrounded by tall, dense vegetation and endless reeds. Rolling reeds and crisscrossing rivers divide the lake into areas of different sizes, and the cries of birds are heard from time to time, as if they have mistakenly entered the water town of Jiangnan. In the center of this area of water is the place known locally as The Hundred Birds Lake, where dozens of birds such as fishing gulls, egrets, swans and so on live.
The Waters of Usuteng Gowling are part of Lake Bosten, so why are the environments so different? The reason why Shiratori Lake can become a place where hundreds of birds live shows that the ecological environment here is very special.
Why do the birds come to the Bird Lake to roost?
1, there is a good nesting place. In the bunkers of the shoal near Bird Lake, bird's nests and eggs can often be seen, and the sand on the beach is washed by running water, mixed with a certain clay composition, which should have good water retention performance and provide a suitable place for some birds that nest and lay eggs on the sand.
There is a wider area of sand around the shores of Lake Bosten, but why don't flocks of birds nest there? It turned out that the sand grains in other places were different from Shiratori Lake, they were blown by the wind, and he did not spend enough humidity, so its particles were finer, it was not easy to preserve moisture, and the humidity was not enough.
2. The ecosystem of Baidori Lake is diverse. The Waters of Usuteng Gowling have a rich ecological environment, including not only beaches with suitable humidity, but also diving lakes suitable for wading birds. There are also silt accumulation, reed-covered swamps and other diverse ecological environments, constituting a complete wetland system, it is this systematic structure that meets the different survival needs of various birds. That's why the waters in the center of Usuteng Golling can become a paradise for birds to survive.
The reason for the formation of Lake Bosten
Expert research, the genesis of Bosten Lake is more complex, in the tectonic movement of hundreds of millions of years ago, the surrounding folded mountain system in different directions was uplifted, the middle crust continued to decline, and gradually formed the Yanqi Basin (Yanqi Basin is located in the northeast of xinjiang Tarim Basin, is a mountain basin in the Tianshan Mountains, an area of about 13,000 square kilometers, named after Yanqi County in the basin). Lake Bosten is located at the lowest depression on the south side of the Yanqi Basin. With the influence of many fault activities, the basin gradually shrank, and about two or three million years ago, the uplift of the Tianshan Mountains in the north and the kuruktag Mountains in the south were raised. This causes the edge of the basin to be completely blocked. Glacial meltwater and rainwater accumulate in basins to form Bosten Lake, also known as faulty tectonic lakes.
Why are the reeds in the waters of Usuteng Golling lush?
Most faulted tectonic lakes do not form a reed-strewn body of water like Usuteng Golling. This is related to its river system.
1. The Kaidu River, the Ulastai River, the Qingshui River and the Ushtara River flow into Bosten Lake, which mainly have the Kaidu River flowing in and exiting from the Peacock River. Although the Kaidu River flows into Lake Bosten, a tributary of the River meanders into the waters of Usuteng Guolin. This is the water source condition formed by the reeds on the southwest side of Lake Poston.
2. At the same time as the Formation of the Yanqi Basin, not only did it create a large lake basin of Bosten Lake, but also formed many small potholes in his western part, glacial meltwater and rainwater, carrying sediment organic matter. After flowing through the grasslands in the middle of the mountain, they accumulate here and gradually form peat layers that provide a large amount of nutrients for the growth of reeds, and reeds belong to water-stopping plants that survive in shallow water environments.
3, in addition, here lives a small animal of muskrat, about the size of an adult hare, with a tail of about 20 cm long, they live near the water near the lake, mainly feed on the young buds and young leaves of reeds. This muskrat population is small, will not cause serious damage to the reeds, but will grow some of the too dense reeds for nibbling, so that the density of reeds in the waters of Usuteng Guolin remains within a good range.
These reeds enclose the shoal into lakes of different sizes, and these lakes are connected to each other to form the Waters of Usuteng Guolin. Bird Lake, on the other hand, is located in the center of dozens of shallow depressions in the entire Usuteng Golin waters. With the least human interference and the most abundant food sources, it has naturally become the preferred place for most birds to live and reproduce.
The vast and boundless Posteng Lake not only has rich fishing resources, but also provides sufficient water for local agricultural production and domestic water. The people on this side have multiplied and lived here for thousands of years, and have also formed a unique national dance culture related to this water, lakes and birds are the wind and rain, and the hope of a good harvest.
People and nature, harmonious coexistence, green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains, we should pay more attention to the protection of the ecological environment, because this is the people's yearning for a better life!
Source: Geography China
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