Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes

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Exploring the Badain Jaran Desert: A Unique Landscape of Sand Towers and Interdunal Lakes

The Badain Jaran Desert, located in the Alashan Plateau of northwestern China, is a remarkable example of a hyper-arid desert landscape that showcases a unique combination of towering sand dunes, interdunal lakes, and diverse habitats. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2024, this vast desert spanning over 49,000 square kilometers across the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia, is the third largest desert in China.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

Located in the Alashan Plateau in the hyper-arid and temperate desert region of northwestern China, the Badain Jaran Desert is a meeting point for three sandy regions of China and is the country’s third largest desert and second largest drifting desert. The property stands out with its high density of mega-dunes, intersected with inter-dunal lakes. It displays spectacular ongoing geological and geomorphic features of desert landscapes and landforms which may well be unparalleled. Noteworthy features, among others, include the world’s tallest, stabilized sand mega-dune (relative relief of 460 m); the highest concentration of inter-dunal lakes; and the largest expanse of so-called singing sands (describing the resonance caused for example by wind moving dry and loose sand) and wind-eroded landforms. The varied landscape also results in a high level of habitat diversity, and hence of biodiversity.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (vii): Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes display spectacular ongoing geological and geomorphic features of desert landscapes and landforms subject to a temperate, hyper-arid climate. These features create exceptional aesthetic values emerging from the dense range of stabilized, linear, and parallel mega-dunes with numerous inter-dunal lakes as well as various types of smaller dunes in-between the mega-dunes. 144 inter-dunal lakes exhibit a myriad of colours, caused by different levels of salinity and microbial communities. With an exceptional expanse of so-called singing sands (describing the resonance caused e.g. by wind moving dry and loose sand), the property also presents a remarkable soundscape. Wind-eroded landforms, oases, ripple effects and the grandeur of the world’s tallest sand mega-dunes (relative relief of 460 m) compose a landscape of remarkable natural beauty. The dynamic of shifting sand dunes creates an ever-changing visual environment.

Criterion (viii): The property is located at the junction of three sandy regions of China and provides an outstanding example of the ongoing evolution of desert landscapes and landforms under a temperate and hyper-arid climate. It records and displays an exceptional variety of aeolian features and desert geomorphology, such as linear and parallel, stabilized mega-dunes and associated inter-dunal lakes. The property appears to be a very rare example at global scale that reflects the evolutionary landforms as a combined result of regional tectonism and hydrogeological changes associated with climatic evolution. The property also stands out due to the remarkable stability of its linear mega-dunes and the abundance of inter-dunal lakes. It boasts the densest collection of stabilized mega-dunes globally, encompassing among the tallest sand dunes and the highest concentration of inter-dunal lakes found anywhere on Earth. With 144 inter-dunal lakes and the considerable variety of dune formations, the property hosts a remarkable geodiversity. Both IUCN’s 2011 thematic study on desert landscapes and IUCN’s 2021 study on the application of criterion (viii) highlighted the property as one of the most significant desert landscapes and geomorphological sites, not currently represented on the World Heritage List.

Encyclopedia Record: Badain Jaran Desert

The Badain Jaran Desert is a desert in China which spans the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. It covers an area of 49,000 square kilometers. By size it is the third largest desert in China.

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IUCN World Heritage Outlook

The 2025 Conservation Outlook on Badain Jaran Desert - Towers of Sand and Lakes reports the following assessment:

Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · View assessment