TAKLA MAKAN, a desert area in Central Asia. This unit is the major division of that portion of the Tarim basin which stretches westwards from the lower course of the Tarim river to the Pamirs. Its borders on the west, north and east are formed by the Tiznaf, Yarkand and Tarim rivers respectively.
Speaking generally, the Takla Makan is a region of bare drift sand and moving sand dunes, a waterless area, except for the Khotan and Keriya rivers, which carry water northwards into the desert from the Kunlun. This sand dune desert is absolutely uninhabitable, except for a few scattered settlements along the banks of these rivers. These sandy wastes are found all the way down the right bank of the Tarim river to its confluence with Lake Kara-Buran, and then continue up the Charchan Darya and almost as far westward as Keriya.
The sand dunes proper of the Takla Makan occupy chiefly the south and south-west of the region, where the full force of the north-east wind is felt.
Between the lower Tarim river and the Charchan Darya, the surface conformation is different from that of the rest of the Takla Makan. Here the sand dunes are interrupted by tracts of perfectly level soil entirely destitute of sand. In the southern most part of this area there are patches of reeds and tamarisks, and wells are to be found in this locality.
In the west, stretching from Yangi Hissar to the left bank of the Yarkand river, there is the region of moving sands known as Ordam Padshah. In the east, beyond the left bank of the Tarim river, there is a zone of high and barren sand ridges, extending beyond the river and filling the area between the foot of the Kuruk Tagh hills and the belt of wind-eroded desert along the western side of the ancient salt-encrusted Lop lake bed. In this region the sands are much less frequent than in the Takla Makan itself. Here the soil is of loose saline clay, bare in some places, over grown in others with tamarisk bushes. The plants bind the soil with their roots into a solid mass, the intervals between the masses of plants being subject to the full erosive force of the winds. The
drift-sand accumulates around the bushes and gradually a hillock of sand and tamarisks is formed. These hillocks are between 7 and 14 ft. high, and cover large tracts in this eastward extension of the sandy desert. In the sand dune desert proper of the Takla Makan, there are two systems of dunes; one system, of the high chains, stretches from east to west, while the transverse dunes run from north to south, or north-east to south-west. The steeper faces of the dunes are, for the most part, turned towards the south, the south-west and the west, that is, away from the direction of the prevailing winds, but in some regions face east.
Vegetation and animal life are extremely scarce. The former is practically confined to various steppe plants, kamish (reeds), tamarisks, almost invariably growing on root mounds, and poplars. The animals are hares, rats, and one or two other rodents, foxes, and, in a few places, the wild camel.
The climate is one of extremes. In the Charchan desert a temperature of — 2 2 ° F has been observed in the depth of winter, and snow sometimes falls heavily there. During the sandstorms which sweep over the region in spring, the thermometer drops as much as 1 o° or 12° F below zero. On the other hand, a tem perature as high as 86° F has been recorded at the end of April. This desert can only be crossed safely in the winter, when it is possible to transport ice on the backs of camels. Sometimes, for days together, the desert is enveloped in an impenetrable dust haze, which chokes and smothers every living creature.
In the second half of the 13th century, Marco Polo left a vivid description of this desert and related legends associated with it. (See also SIN KIANG, TARIM.)