Badain Jaran Desert between the dunes, some of which are fresh water while others are extremely saline. These lakes give the desert its name which is Mongolian for "mysterious lakes". It is also crossed by one river, the Ruo Shui ("weak water"), which has formed an alluvial plain in the desert. Measuring over , the Badain Jaran Desert covers a significant part of the south-central part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as well as the North part of Gansu province. Located in the Alxa Plateau at about 1200 meters above sea level it is listed as a subsection to the Gobi Desert.
Hami Desert to take their place, the country went out of cultivation and eventually became the barren desert it is now. During the Hun time, and probably into the Middle Age, the present desert was a lush steppe grassland able to support sustainable seasonal nomadic horse husbandry on a large scale. Hami Desert The Desert of Hami (, Uyhgur: Қумул Қумлуқи) is a section of the Gobi Desert in Xinjiang, China that occupies the space between the Tian Shan system on the north and the Nan-shan Mountains on the south, and is connected on the west with the Desert of Lop. "This