Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark

Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark is located in the Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China. According to the types and geographical distribution of its geoheritage, Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark consists of three geo-regions: the Badan Jaran Geo-region, the Tengger Geo-region and the Juyan Geo-region.

Located in the east part of the Yinshan Mountains, bounded to the north by the Inner Mongolia Hercynian fold belt, to the southeast by the Table Mountain and Helan Mountain platform subsidence, to the south by the Qilian Caledonian fold belt, Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark is rich in geoheritage of great scientific value, as well as significant value in geo-education and geotourism. The most representative geoheritage in the UNESCO Global Geopark are the megadunes which are called “Mt. Everest Desert”, the widely distributed singing sand which is called “Singing Sand Kingdom” and the numerous desert lakes. The geoheritage in the UNESCO Global Geopark is quite rare throughout the world for its large size of desert, numerous quantities of desert lakes and vast area of singing sand, which makes it important in studying formation and regional environment evolution.