Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau and the Loess Plateau, bordering Mongolia (Govi-Altai Province) to the northwest, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia to the north, Shaanxi to the east, Sichuan to the south, and Xinjiang to the west. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province. The province contains the geographical centre of China, marked by the Center of the Country Monument at . Part of the Gobi Desert is located in Gansu, as well as small parts of the Badain Jaran Desert and the Tengger Desert. The Yellow River gets most of its water from Gansu, flowing straight
Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area an arid region of the Gobi desert. The vegetation is dominated by desert and desert steppe. Great Gobi A is generally drier than Great Gobi B. Together with Great Gobi B, the reserve was established in 1975 and has been designated by the United Nations as an international Biosphere Reserve in 1991. With a total area of about 46,369 km it is one of the largest reserves worldwide. The headquarters for the Great Gobi SPA is situated in Bayantooroi, a settlement about 20 km north to the Great Gobi A reserve. The Climate is extremely "continental". Temperatures in the Gobi