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88-657: Altyn-Tagh (also Lower Mountains or Altyn ) is a mountain range in Northwestern China that separates the Eastern Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Plateau . The western third is in Xinjiang while the eastern part forms the border between Qinghai to the south and Xinjiang and Gansu to the north. Altun Shan is also the name of a 5,830 metres (19,130 ft) mountain near the eastern end of

176-842: A consequence of the Han–Xiongnu War from 133 BC to 89 AD, the Tarim Basin region of Xinjiang in Northwest China, including the Saka-founded oasis city-state of Khotan and Kashgar, fell under Han Chinese influence, beginning with the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) of the Han dynasty . Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan , people of Kashgar, the capital of the Shule Kingdom , spoke Saka , one of

264-670: A flood, We went out among their cities, We tore down the idol-temples, We shat on the Buddha's head! In Turkic: kälginläyü aqtïmïz kändlär üzä čïqtïmïz furxan ävin yïqtïmïz burxan üzä sïčtïmïz The Buddhist Uyghurs of the Kingdom of Qocho and Turfan embraced Islam after conversion at the hands of the Muslim Chagatai Khizr Khwaja. Kara Del was a Mongolian ruled and Uighur populated Buddhist Kingdom. The Muslim Chagatai Khan Mansur invaded and used

352-546: A number of Mongol nomadic tribes. These tribes resented the conversion of khan Tarmashirin to Islam and the move of the khan to the sedentary areas of Transoxiana . They were behind the revolt that ended in Tarmashirin's death. One of the khans that followed Tarmashirin, Changshi , favored the east and was non-Muslim. In the 1340s as a series of ephemeral khans struggled to hold power in Transoxiana, little attention

440-727: A relatively narrow "V". Inside the "V" are a number of endorheic basins . The eastern end of the Altyn-Shan is near the Dangjin Pass on the Dunhuang - Golmud road in far western Gansu . East of the Altyn-Tagh the border range rises to the Qilian Mountains . The range separates the Tarim Basin, to the north, and Lake Ayakkum , to the south. The range can be divided into three portions. The southwest portion borders

528-641: A tight-knit partnership, with intermarriage between Dunhuang and Khotan's rulers and Dunhuang's Mogao grottos and Buddhist temples being funded and sponsored by the Khotan royals, whose likenesses were drawn in the Mogao grottoes. Halfway in the 10th century Khotan came under attack by the Karakhanid ruler Musa, a long war ensued between the Turkic Karakhanid and Buddhist Khotan which eventually ended in

616-683: A tomb dated to as early as the 7th century BC. According to the Sima Qian 's Shiji , the nomadic Indo-European Yuezhi originally lived between Tengri Tagh ( Tian Shan ) and Dunhuang in Gansu , China. However, the Yuezhi were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu , who conquered the area in 177–176 BC (decades before

704-513: A town named after its Saka inhabitants (i.e. saγlâ ). Although the ancient Chinese called Khotan Yutian (于闐), its more native Iranian names during the Han period were Jusadanna (瞿薩旦那), derived from Indo-Iranian Gostan and Gostana , the names of the town and region around it, respectively. Around 200 BCE, the Yuezhi were overrun by the Xiongnu . The Xiongnu then tried to invade the western region of China, but ultimately failed and lost control of

792-633: Is a hyperarid basin that occupies a large part of Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai Province , China . The basin covers an area of approximately 120,000 km (46,000 sq mi), one-fourth of which is covered by saline lakes and playas . Around one third of the basin, about 35,000 km (14,000 sq mi), is desert. Tshwa'i 'Dam is the Wylie romanization of the Tibetan name ཚྭ འི ་ འདམ ་ , meaning " Salt Marsh ";

880-560: Is a comparatively low area in the northeastern part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau . With an elevation of around 3,000 m (10,000 ft), Qaidam forms a kind of shelf between Tibet to the south (around 4,300 m or 14,000 ft) and Gansu to the north (around 1,100 m or 3,500 ft). A low water divide separates the Qaidam Basin proper from that of Qinghai Lake to the east. Despite this lower elevation, Qaidam

968-540: Is actually the earliest fortified urban settlement in the entire region, covering 6 hectares, and developed in four phases between c. 770 BC and 80 AD. Spouted jars were found at this site, similar to those of Chawuhu culture, and buckles and moulds with animal motifs resemble steppe traditions. Another people in the region besides these Tarim people were the Indo-Iranian Saka people, who spoke various Eastern Iranian Khotanese Scythian or Saka dialects. In

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1056-661: Is an intermontane basin, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. In the south, the Kunlun Mountains separate it from the higher central section of the Tibetan Plateau . In the north, a number of smaller ridges like the Shulenanshan separate it from another higher plateau, which usually referenced by the name of its northern escarpment, the Qilian or Nanshan. In the northwest, the Altyn-Tagh separates it from

1144-554: Is controlled by the Altyn Tagh fault constituting the northern basin boundary. The basin's large mineral deposits caused a great deal of investment interest from 2005. Qarhan Playa , a salt flat including about ten of the lakes, contains over 50 billion metric tons (55 billion short tons) of salt . Beneath the salt, Qaidam is one of China's nine most important petroliferous basins and its largest center of onshore production. The Qinghai Oilfield, exploited since 1954, includes

1232-745: Is currently no road east across the Kumtag Desert to Dunhuang, but caravans somehow made the crossing through the Yangguan pass south of the Jade Gate. The whole Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan Desert are surrounded by railroads. The Southern Xinjiang Railway branches from the Lanxin Railway near Turpan, follows the north side of the basin to Kashgar, and curves southeast to Khotan, while Hotan–Ruoqiang railway loops around

1320-846: Is now replaced by the Karakoram Highway south from Kashgar. To the west of Kashgar via the Irkeshtam border crossing is the Alay Valley , which was once the route to Persia. Northeast of Kashgar the Torugart pass leads to the Ferghana Valley . Near Uchturpan the Bedel Pass leads to Lake Issyk-Kul and the steppes. Somewhere near Aksu the difficult Muzart Pass led north to the Ili River basin (Kulja). Near Korla

1408-470: Is of some importance historically. My own preference is for an explanation connecting it semantically with the name Saka, for the Iranian inhabitants of Khotan... In Northwest China , Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist literature , have been found, primarily in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar). They largely predate the arrival of Islam to the region under

1496-621: Is still high enough that its mean annual temperature is 2–4 °C (36–39 °F) despite lying on the same latitude as Algeria , Greece , and Virginia in the United States . The crescent-shaped basin covers an area of approximately 120,000 km (46,000 sq mi). Its substrate is broadly divided into three blocks: the Mangya Depression, a northern fault zone, and the Sanhu Depression . Qaidam

1584-515: Is the Kumkol Basin ( Chinese : 库木库里盆地 ; pinyin : Kùmùkùlǐ Péndì ) The two main lakes in this basin are the saline Lake Aqqikkol (also Ajig Kum Kul, Achak-kum; Chinese : 阿其克库勒湖 ; pinyin : Āqíkèkùlè Hú ; 37°05′N, 88°25′E, 4,250 metres (13,940 ft) elevation) and Lake Ayakum ( Chinese : 阿牙克库木湖 ; pinyin : Āyákèkùmù hú ; 37°30′N, 89°30′E; elevation 3,876 metres (12,717 ft)). These lakes are two of

1672-709: The Achaemenid era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis , dated to the reign of Darius I (r. 522–486 BC), the Saka are said to have lived just beyond the borders of Sogdiana . Likewise, an inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC) has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia. The contemporary Greek historian Herodotus noted that the Achaemenid Persians called all Indo-Iranian Scythian peoples "Saka". They were known as

1760-623: The China Geological Survey as a Mars analogue for use in testing spectroscopy and equipment for China's 2020 Mars rover program . Qaidam was part of the North China Craton from at least 1 billion years ago, before breaking off c.  560 million years ago at the end of the Neoproterozoic . It was an island in a shallow sea until uplift beginning around 400   Ma finally rejoined it to

1848-642: The Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by the Greek historian Herodotus, the contemporary Persians labelled all Scythians "Saka". Indeed, modern scholarly consensus is that the Saka language, ancestor to the Pamir languages in northern India and Khotanese in Xinjiang , belongs to the Scythian languages . During China's Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), the region once again came under Chinese suzerainty with

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1936-777: The Four Garrisons of Anxi . Tang hegemony beyond the Pamir Mountains in modern Tajikistan and Afghanistan ended with revolts by the Turks, but the Tang retained a military presence in Xinjiang. These holdings were later invaded by the Tibetan Empire to the south in 670. For the remainder of the Tang dynasty, the Tarim Basin alternated between Tang and Tibetan rule as they competed for control of Central Asia. As

2024-906: The Han Chinese conquest and colonization of western tip of Gansu or the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions ). In turn the Yuezi attacked and pushing the Sai (i.e. Saka) west into Sogdiana, where in the mid-2nd century BC the latter crossed the Syr Darya into Bactria , but also into the Fergana Valley where they settled in Dayuan , south towards northern India, and eastward as well, where they settled in some of

2112-675: The Kaidu river . Structures made of mud bricks were found at Xintala , showing building techniques similar to those seen in early oasis sites in western Central Asia, as well as in Yanbulake . There were no burials in Xintala culture, and its settlements were small. Autosomal genetic evidence suggests that the earliest Tarim people arose from locals of primarily Ancient North Eurasian descent with significant Northeast Asian admixture. The Tarim mummies have been found in various locations in

2200-533: The Kara-Khanid Khanate in Semirechye , Western Tian Shan , and Kashgaria . The Karakhanids became the first Islamic Turkic dynasty in the tenth century when Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in 966 while he controlled Kashgar. Satuq Bughra Khan and his son directed endeavors to preach Islam among the Turks and engage in conquests. Satok Bughra Khan's nephew or grandson Ali Arslan

2288-549: The Kazakh Steppe with several roads east. The Dzungarian Gate was once a migration route and is now a road and rail crossing . Tacheng or Tarbaghatay is a crossroads and former trading post. The Tarim Basin is the result of an amalgamation between an ancient microcontinent and the growing Eurasian continent during the Carboniferous to Permian periods, a process which ended in the earliest Triassic with

2376-505: The Kumtagh Desert of southeastern Xinjiang . Because of this position, Qaidam forms an endorheic basin accumulating lakes with no outlet to the sea. The area is among the most arid non-polar locations on Earth, with some places reporting an aridity index of 0.008–0.04. Across the entire basin, the mean annual rainfall is 26 mm (1 in) but the mean annual evaporation is 3,000–3,200 mm (120–130 in). Because of

2464-412: The Kunlun Mountains and is very rugged, with peaks reaching more than 6,100 metres (20,000 ft) and many perennial snow fields. The central portion is lower in elevation, around 4,000 metres (13,000 ft). The eastern portion is higher in elevation, about 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) and consists of a group of smaller ranges oriented in a south-east to north-west trend. Along the northern side of

2552-507: The Taklamakan Desert , one south, and a middle one connecting both through the Lop Nor region. In the early period, beginning around 2000 BC, there were six different cultural zones in the Tarim Basin, and bronze began to appear. One of these cultures was the Xintala culture ( c.  1700 –1500 BC), near the site of Yanqi, also known as Karashar , to the north and east of the Tarim, at

2640-653: The Tibetan Pinyin romanization of the same name is Caidam . Qaidam is the GNC romanization of its transcription into Mongolian ; Tsaidam is a variant romanization of the same name. Chaidamu is the pinyin romanization of its transcription into Chinese characters ; the same name was formerly romanized as the Zaidam Swamp for the Chinese Postal Map . Orographically , the Qaidam Basin

2728-823: The Turkic Kara-Khanids . Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language were found in Dunhuang dating mostly to the 10th century. After the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate of modern-day Mongolia , Uyghur people migrated to the Tarim Basin and mixed with the Tocharians and converted to their religion, and adopted their method of oasis agriculture. In the tenth century, the Karluks , Yagmas , Chigils and other Turkic tribes founded

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2816-482: The "Kunlun" paleolake to its south was enriching the Sanhu region with enormous reserves of lithium derived from hot springs near Mount Buka Daban which now feed into the Narin Gol River that flows into East Taijinar Lake . Around 30 kya , the lake in the Kunluns dried up and the Qarhan was cut off from sufficient inflows of fresh water. It became saline again, beginning to precipitate salts about 25,000 years ago. The basin's continuing formation and evolution

2904-540: The 10th century "makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan was a speaker of Iranian ." Furthermore, he elaborated on the early name of Khotan: The name of Khotan is attested in a number of spellings, of which the oldest form is hvatana , in texts of approximately the 7th to the 10th century AD, written in an Iranian language itself called hvatana by the writers. The same name is attested also in two closely related Iranian dialects, Sogdian and Tumshuq ...Attempts have accordingly been made to explain it as Iranian, and this

2992-414: The 3rd century, bearing dual inscriptions in Chinese and Gandhari Prakrit in the Kharosthi script. Although Prakrit was the administrative language of nearby Shanshan , 3rd-century documents from that kingdom record the title hinajha (i.e. "generalissimo") for the king of Khotan, Vij'ida-simha, a distinctively Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati , yet nearly identical to

3080-558: The Afaqi (White Mountain) and the Ishaqi (Black Mountain). The Ishaqi defeated the Afaqi and the Afaq Khoja invited the 5th Dalai Lama (the leader of the Tibetans ) to intervene on his behalf in 1677. The Dalai Lama then called on his Dzungar Buddhist followers in the Dzungar Khanate to act on the invitation. The Dzungar Khanate conquered the Tarim Basin in 1678, during the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr , after which they set up Afaq Khoja as their puppet ruler. Xinjiang did not exist as one unit until 1884 under Qing rule. It consisted of

3168-423: The Alagou sites near the Turfan basin, and north to the region close to Ürümqi . Earlier diggings in the southern Tarim Basin, in the 1990s, suggested that Yuansha (Djoumbulak Koum) in the Keriya river valley was the earliest fortified urban site, from around 400 BC, but new surveys and excavations between 2018 and 2020, showed that the site Kuiyukexiehai'er (Koyuk Shahri), located in the northern Tarim Basin,

3256-404: The Altyn-Tagh on its way between Qinghai and Xinjiang. The Golmud-Korla Railway crosses the Altyn-Tagh as well. The project, involving the construction of the 13.195 km-long Altyn-Tagh Tunnel ( 阿尔金山隧道 ), was completed in 2020. Tarim Basin Xinjiang consists of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names, Dzungaria and

3344-412: The Huatugou field with a major refinery at Golmud , and the Sebei gas fields are connected to Xining , Lanzhou , and Yinchuan . Qaidam has reserves of asbestos , borax , gypsum , and several metals , with the greatest reserves of lithium , magnesium , potassium , and sodium found anywhere in China. The Xining-Golmud rail line (the first stage of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway ), which crossed

3432-522: The Karakhanid leader. The "infidels" were defeated and driven towards Khotan by Yusuf Qadir Khan and the four Imams, but the Imams were assassinated by the Buddhists prior to the last Muslim victory. After Yusuf Qadir Khan's conquest of new land in Altishahr towards the east, he adopted the title "King of the East and China". In 1006, the Muslim Kara-Khanid ruler Yusuf Kadir (Qadir) Khan of Kashgar conquered Khotan, ending Khotan's existence as an independent state. The Islamic conquest of Khotan led to alarm in

3520-415: The Khotanese Saka hīnāysa attested in contemporary documents. This, along with the fact that the king's recorded regnal periods were given in Khotanese as kṣuṇa , "implies an established connection between the Iranian inhabitants and the royal power", according to the late Professor of Iranian Studies Ronald E. Emmerick (d. 2001). He contended that Khotanese-Saka-language royal rescripts of Khotan dated to

3608-433: The Lenghu, Gasikule, Yuejin-2, and Huatugou oil fields and the Sebei-1, Sebei-2, and Tainan gas fields. All together, it has proven reserves of 347.65 million metric tons (more than 2 billion barrels ) of petroleum and 306.6 billion cubic meters (10.83 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas . Annual production capacity is about 2 million metric tons of petroleum and 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas. A pipeline connects

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3696-482: The Sai (塞, sāi, sək in archaic Chinese) in ancient Chinese records. These records indicate that they originally inhabited the Ili and Chu River valleys of modern Kazakhstan . In the Chinese Book of Han , the area was called the "land of the Sai", i.e. the Saka. A people believed to be Saka has also been found in various locations in the Tarim Basin, for example in the Keriya region at Yumulak Kum (Djoumboulak Koum, Yuansha) around 200 km east of Khotan, with

3784-411: The Tahe oil field. Below the level enriched with gas and oil is a complex Precambrian basement believed to be made up of the remnants of the original Tarim microplate , which accrued to the growing Eurasian continent in Carboniferous time. The snow on K2 , the second-highest mountain in the world, flows into glaciers which move down the valleys to melt. The melted water forms rivers which flow down

3872-430: The Tarim Basin ( Altishahr ), which Qing China unified into Xinjiang province in 1884. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe-dwelling, nomadic Mongolic-speaking , Tibetan Buddhist Dzungars , while the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) was inhabited by sedentary, oasis-dwelling, Turkic-speaking Uyghur Muslim farmers. Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin were each governed separately until

3960-436: The Tarim basin, rebelled against the Moghulistan Khanate and broke away. Five years later Sultan Said Khan , a brother of the Khan of Moghulistan in Turfan , conquered the Dughlats but established his own Yarkent Khanate instead. By the early 17th century, the Naqshbandi Sufi Khojas , descendants of Muhammad , had replaced the Chagatayid Khans as rulers of the Tarim Basin. There was a struggle between two Khoja factions:

4048-422: The Tien Shan join the Tarim, the largest being the Aksu . Rivers flowing north from the Kunlun are usually named for the town or oasis they pass through. Most dry up in the desert; only the Hotan River reaches the Tarim in good years. An exception is the Qiemo River which flows northeast into Lop Nor. Ruins in the desert imply that these rivers were once larger. The original caravan route seems to have followed

4136-405: The Yuezhi, albeit under slightly different names. After the Han dynasty, the kingdoms of the Tarim Basin began to have strong cultural influences on China as a conduit between the cultures of India and Central Asia and China. Indian Buddhists had previously travelled to China during the Han dynasty, but the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva from Kucha , who visited China during the Six Dynasties period

4224-405: The aridity of the region. The western portion has some small streams that either head north into the desert or south into Lake Ayakkum. The remainder of the range is lacking in rivers. Inside the V-shaped area between the Altyn-Tagh and the main Kunlun range (which in this area is called Arka-Tagh ) a number of endorheic basins are located. Within southeastern Xinjiang, the main of these basins

4312-403: The bed of Dabusun Lake in the Qarhan Playa—nearly the lowest point of the basin—was elevated about 700 m (2,300 ft) within the last 500,000 years. At around 30 kya , this great—at the time, freshwater—lake spread over at least 25,000 km (9,700 sq mi) with a surface 50–60 m (160–200 ft) above the present levels of its successors. At the same time, a river from

4400-498: The campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649). From the late 8th to 9th centuries, the region changed hands between the Chinese Tang Empire and the rival Tibetan Empire . By the early 11th century the region had fallen to the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Khanate , which led to both the Turkification of the region and its conversion from Buddhism to Islam . Suggestive evidence of Khotan's early link to India are minted coins from Khotan dated to

4488-430: The center of the region's sedimentation. The seasonal nature and commercial exploitation of some of the lakes makes an exact count problematic: one count reckoned there were 27 lakes in the basin, another reckoned 43 with a total area of 16,509 km (6,374 sq mi). The aridity, salinity, wide diurnal and seasonal temperature swings, and relatively high ultraviolet radiation has led to Qaidam being studied by

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4576-641: The closure of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean. At present, deformation around the margins of the basin is resulting in the microcontinental crust being pushed under Tian Shan to the north, and Kunlun Shan to the south. A thick succession of Paleozoic , Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks occupy the central parts of the basin, locally exceeding thicknesses of 15 km (9 mi). The source rocks of oil and gas tend to be mostly Permian mudstones and, less often, Ordovician strata which experienced an intense and widespread early Hercynian karstification . The effect of this event are e.g. paleokarst reservoirs in

4664-442: The conquest of Khotan by Kashgar by the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan around 1006. Accounts of the Muslim Karakhanid war against the Khotanese Buddhists are given in Taẕkirah of the Four Sacrificed Imams written sometime in the period from 1700 to 1849 which told the story of four imams from Mada'in city (possibly in modern-day Iraq) who traveled to help the Islamic conquest of Khotan, Yarkand, and Kashgar by Yusuf Qadir Khan,

4752-425: The creation of Xinjiang in 1884 . The Chinese called this the Tien Shan Nan Lu or Tien Shan South Road, as opposed to the Bei Lu north of the mountains. Along it runs the modern highway and railroad while the middle Tarim River is about 100 km south. The caravans met in Kashgar before crossing the mountains. Bachu or Miralbachi; Uchturpan north of the main road; Aksu on the large Aksu River ; Kucha

4840-467: The desert. 218 runs from Charkilik to Korla along the former course of the Tarim, forming an oval whose other end is Kashgar. The Tarim Desert Highway , a major engineering achievement, crosses the center from Niya to Luntai . The new Highway 217 follows the Khotan River from Khotan to near Aksu . A road follows the Yarkant River from Yarkand to Baqu . East of the Korla-Charkilik road, travel continues to be very difficult. Rivers coming south from

4928-419: The east and Dunhuang's Cave 17, which contained Khotanese literary works, was closed shut possibly after its caretakers heard that Khotan's Buddhist buildings were razed by the Muslims, the Buddhist religion had suddenly ceased to exist in Khotan. The Karakhanid Turkic Muslim writer Mahmud al-Kashgari recorded a short Turkic language poem about the conquest: English translation: We came down on them like

5016-425: The eastern Tarim Basin such as Loulan , the Xiaohe Tomb complex , and Qäwrighul . These mummies have previously been suggested to be of Tocharian origin, but recent evidence suggests that the mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to later Indo-European pastoralists, such as Afanasievo. In the Iron Age , the Chawuhu culture (c. 1000–400 BC) flourished in the Yanqi (Karashar) oasis, and also reached

5104-405: The eastern part of the Qaidam Basin in the early 1980s, is an essential transportation link for accessing the region's mineral resources. Additional railroads spanning the basin include the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway completed in December 2019 and a 25 km private railway constructed by Zangge Mining Co., Ltd. The National Development and Reform Commission began conducting preliminary planning for

5192-662: The few noticeable bodies of water in this extremely arid area; the area around them is officially protected as the Altun Shan Nature Reserve . Farther east, in northwestern Qinghai , the much larger Qaidam Basin starts between the Altyn-Tagh and the Kunlun and extends almost to the east side of the plateau; the Altyn-Tagh separates the west side of this basin from the Kumtagh Desert . The four highest peaks are Sulamutag Feng (6,245 metres (20,489 ft)), Yusupu Aleketag Shan (6,065 metres (19,898 ft)), Altun Shan (5,830 metres (19,130 ft)) and Kogantag (4,800 metres (15,700 ft)). China National Highway 315 crosses

5280-423: The finding of a vast, carbon-rich underground sea beneath the basin. It is speculated that the Tarim Basin may be one of the last places in Asia to have become inhabited: It is surrounded by mountains and irrigation technologies might have been necessary. The Northern Silk Road on one route bypassed the Tarim Basin north of the Tian Shan mountains and traversed it on three oases-dependent routes: one north of

5368-402: The focus of sedimentation from the Dalangtan to Qarhan area. During this time, the record's glacial intervals suggest a low-temperature climate and its sandstone yardangs attest to strong winds. From 770,000 and 30,000 years ago, the enormous lake which filled much of the southeastern basin alternated nine times between being a fresh- and saltwater lake. Pollen studies suggest

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5456-490: The last vestiges of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, expanded back into the Tarim Basin in the 1st–2nd centuries CE, where they established a kingdom in Kashgar and competed for control of the area with nomads and Chinese forces. The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese : 月氏 ; pinyin : Yuèzhī ; Wade–Giles : Yüeh -chih , [ɥê ʈʂɻ̩́] ) were an ancient people first reported in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in

5544-812: The long run, supplying one-fifth of the country's total oil supply by 2010, with an annual output of 35 million tonnes . On June 10, 2010, Baker Hughes announced an agreement to work with PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Co. to supply oilfield services, including both directional and vertical drilling systems, formation evaluation services, completion systems and artificial lift technology for wells drilled into foothills formations greater than 7,500 meters (24,600 feet) deep with pressures greater than 20,000 psi (1,400 bar) and bottom-hole temperatures of approximately 160 °C (320 °F). Electrical submersible pumping (ESP) systems will be employed to dewater gas and condensate wells. PetroChina will fund any joint development. In 2015, Chinese researchers published

5632-478: The low rainfall, these lakes have become saline or dried up completely. Presently, there are four main playas in the basin: Qarhan in the southeast and (from north to south) Kunteyi , Chahanshilatu , and Dalangtan in the northwest. These playas and a few other saline lakes occupy over one-fourth of the basin, with the sediments deposited since the Jurassic as deep as 10 to 14 km (6–9   mi) in places despite tectonic activity having repeatedly shifted

5720-415: The mainland by 200   Ma. Three-dimensional modeling shows that the present basin has been squeezed to an irregular diamond shape since the beginning of the Cenozoic , with the Indian Plate beginning to impact the ancient Tibetan shoreline somewhere between 55 –35   Ma. At first, Qaidam was at a far lower elevation. Pollen found in core samples shows that the Oligocene (34–23   Ma)

5808-453: The mountains and into the Tarim Basin, never reaching the sea. Surrounded by desert, some rivers feed the oases where the water is used for irrigation while others flow to salt lakes and marshes. Lop Nur is a marshy , saline depression at the east end of the Tarim Basin. The Tarim River ends in Lop Nur. The Tarim Basin is believed to contain large potential reserves of petroleum and natural gas . Methane comprises over 70 percent of

5896-407: The mountains ran the main Silk Road trade route from China proper to the Tarim Basin and westward. The Altyn-Tagh and Qilians were sometimes called the Nan Shan ('south mountains') because they were south of the main route. Near the east end of the Altyn-Shan, the Gansu or Hexi Corridor ends and the Silk Road splits. One branch follows the Altyn-Tagh along the south side of the Tarim Basin while

5984-405: The natural gas reserve, with variable contents of ethane (<1% – c. 18%) and propane (<0.5% – c. 9%). China National Petroleum Corporation 's comprehensive exploration of the Tarim basin between 1989 and 1995 led to the identification of 26 oil- and gas-bearing structures. These occur at deeper depths and in scattered deposits. Beijing aims to develop Xinjiang into China's new energy base for

6072-442: The north side of the basin. Formerly it continued to Loulan , but some time after 330 AD it turned southeast near Korla toward Charkilik , and Loulan was abandoned. The Tarim ended at the now-dry Lop Nur, which occupied a shifting position east of Loulan. Eastward is the fabled Jade Gate which the Chinese considered the gateway to the Western Regions . Beyond that was Dunhuang with its ancient manuscripts and then Anxi at

6160-437: The oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin. Whereas the Yuezhi continued westward and conquered Daxia around 177–176 BC, the Sai (i.e. Saka), including some allied Tocharian peoples , fled south to the Pamirs before heading back east to settle in Tarim Basin sites like Yanqi (焉耆, Karasahr ) and Qiuci (龜茲, Kucha ). The Saka are recorded as inhabiting Khotan by at least the 3rd century and also settled in nearby Shache (莎車),

6248-399: The other follows the north side. The southwestern part of the Altyn-Tagh range reaches snowy peaks of up to 6,245 metres (20,489 ft), although it descends to an average of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in the narrow middle and eventually rises up to average 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) as it meets the Qilian Mountains. There are a dearth of rivers and streams in these mountains, due to

6336-759: The range, the highest point in Gansu. Altyn Tag means Lower Mountain in Turkic , and A'erjin Shan ( 阿尔金山 ) is Chinese for Lower Mountain . A series of mountain ranges run along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau . In the west are the Kunlun Mountains . About halfway across the south side of the Tarim Basin , the Altyn-Tagh Range diverges northeast while the Kunluns continue directly east, forming

6424-632: The region to the Chinese. The Han Chinese wrested control of the Tarim Basin from the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st century under the leadership of General Ban Chao (32–102 CE), during the Han-Xiongnu War . The Chinese administered the Tarim Basin as the Protectorate of the Western Regions . The Tarim Basin was later under many foreign rulers, but ruled primarily by Turkic, Han, Tibetan, and Mongolic peoples. The powerful Kushans , who conquered

6512-670: The south and west side of the Traim. They are part of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop, joined together with sections of the Golmud–Korla railway , Hotan–Ruoqiang railway , Kashgar–Hotan railway , and Southern Xinjiang railway . The main road from eastern China reaches Ürümqi and continues as highway 314 along the north side to Kashgar. Highway 315 follows the south side from Kashgar to Charkilik and continues east to Tibet. There are currently four north–south roads across

6600-596: The south side. At the time of the Han dynasty conquest, it shifted to the center (Jade Gate-Loulan-Korla). When the Tarim changed course about 330 AD it shifted north to Hami . A minor route went north of the Tian Shan. When there was war on the Gansu Corridor trade entered the basin near Charkilik from the Qaidam Basin . The original route to India seems to have started near Yarkand and Kargilik, but it

6688-556: The sword to make the population convert to Islam. After being converted to Islam, the descendants of the previously Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" ( Dzungars ) were the ones who built Buddhist monuments in their area, in opposition to the current academic theory that it was their own ancestral legacy. The eastern regions of the Chagatai Khanate in the early 14th century had been inhabited by

6776-654: The traditional Uyghur name for it was Altishahr ( Uyghur : التى شهر , romanized :  Altä-shähär , Алтә-шәһәр ). It was formerly the area of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate 東察合台汗國, land of the Uyghur people before being conquered by the Dzungars. The population of the Tarim Basin is estimated at approximately 5.5 million. Qaidam Basin The Qaidam , Tsaidam , or Chaidamu Basin

6864-669: The two separate political entities of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Eastern Turkestan). Dzungharia or Ili was called Zhunbu 準部 (Dzungar region) Tianshan Beilu 天山北路 (Northern March), "Xinjiang" 新疆 (New Frontier), or "Kalmykia" (La Kalmouquie in French). It was formerly the area of the Dzungar (or Zunghar) Khanate 準噶爾汗國, the land of the Dzungar people . The Tarim Basin was known as "Tianshan Nanlu 天山南路 (southern March), Huibu 回部 (Muslim region), Huijiang 回疆 (Muslim frontier), Chinese Turkestan , Kashgaria, Little Bukharia, East Turkestan ", and

6952-552: The warm and humid Indian monsoon . It went from a forest steppe to a desert . By 12   Ma, the climate had dried enough to break Qaidam's single lake into separate basins, which frequently became saline. During the Pliocene (5–2.5   Ma), the focus of most sedimentation was at what is now Kunteyi but, during the Pleistocene (after 2.5   Ma), tectonic activity shifted the basin's tributaries and floor, moving

7040-477: The west end of the Gansu Corridor . Settlements include Kashgar; Yangi Hissar , famous for its knives; Yarkand , once larger than Kashgar; Karghalik (Yecheng), with a route to India; Karakash ; Khotan , the main source of Chinese jade; eastward the land becomes more desolate; Keriya (Yutian); Niya (Minfeng); Qiemo (Cherchen); Charkilik (Ruoqiang). The modern road continues east to Tibet. There

7128-739: The western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat by the Xiongnu, in the 2nd century BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups: the Greater Yuezhi ( Dà Yuèzhī 大月氏) and Lesser Yuezhi ( Xiǎo Yuèzhī 小月氏). They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Buddhism , playing a central role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Eastern Asia. Three pre-Han texts mention peoples who appear to be

7216-547: Was captured by the Tang in 644 and the kingdom of Kucha was conquered in 649 . The expansion into Central Asia continued under Taizong's successor, Emperor Gaozong , who dispatched an army in 657 led by Su Dingfang against the Western Turk qaghan Ashina Helu . Ashina was defeated and the khaganate was absorbed into the Tang empire. The Tarim Basin was administered through the Anxi Protectorate and

7304-607: Was once an important kingdom; Luntai ; Korla , now a large town; Karashar near Bosten Lake ; Turpan north of the Turpan Depression and south of the Bogda Shan ; Hami ; then southeast to Anxi and the Gansu Corridor . Most of the basin is occupied by the Taklamakan Desert which is too dry for permanent habitation. The Yarkand , Kashgar and Aksu Rivers join to form the Tarim River which runs along

7392-717: Was paid by the Chagatayids to the eastern regions. As a result, the eastern tribes there were virtually independent. The most powerful of the tribes, the Dughlats , controlled extensive territories in Moghulistan and the western Tarim Basin. In 1347 the Dughlats decided to appoint a khan of their own, and raised the Chagatayid Tughlugh Timur to the throne. In 1509 the Dughlats, vassal rulers of

7480-596: Was particularly renowned. Music and dances from Kucha were also popular in the Sui and Tang periods. During the Tang dynasty , a series of military expeditions were conducted against the oasis states of the Tarim Basin, then vassals of the Western Turkic Khaganate . The campaigns against the oasis states began under Emperor Taizong with the annexation of Gaochang in 640. The nearby kingdom of Karasahr

7568-635: Was relatively humid. A great lake slowly formed in the western basin, which two major tectonic movements raised and cut off from its original sources of sediment. At its greatest extent during the Miocene (23–5   Ma), this lake spread at the present 2,800 m (9,200 ft) elevation contour over 300 km (190 mi) and was among the largest lakes in the world . Nutrient-rich inflows contributed to plankton blooms, which supported an ecosystem that built up reserves of organic carbon. The Tibetan plateau's uplift, however, eventually cut it off from

7656-758: Was slain by the Buddhists during the war. Buddhism lost territory to the Turkic Karakhanid Satok Bughra Khan during the Karakhanid reign around Kashgar. The Tarim Basin became Islamicized over the next few centuries. In the tenth century, the Buddhist Iranic Saka Kingdom of Khotan was the only city-state that was not conquered yet by the Turkic Uyghur (Buddhist) and the Turkic Karakhanid (Muslim) states. The Buddhist entitites of Dunhuang and Khotan had

7744-594: Was the Iron Gate Pass and now the highway and railway north to Ürümqi. From Turfan the easy Dabancheng pass leads to Ürümqi. The route from Charkilik to the Qaidam Basin was of some importance when Tibet was an empire. North of the mountains is Dzungaria with its central Gurbantünggüt Desert , Ürümqi, and the Karamay oil fields. The Kulja territory is the upper basin of the Ili River and opens out onto

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