Distribution of sand dunes and sand shifts along the southern fringe of the Mu Us Desert since the Ming Dynasty

Abstract

This article takes the two segments of the Ming Great Walls, Dabian and Erbian, and their associated barracks and forts as geographical references. Based on a detailed scrutiny of historical records of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and on field surveys, the southern boundaries of the sand dunes and sand shifts of the Mu Us Desert in the Ming and Qing dynasties are carefully reconstructed. A comparison of the southern boundaries of the sand dunes and sand shifts of the Mu Us Desert in Ming and Qing with the modern boundary revealed in remote sensing imagery clearly shows that the southern boundary of dunes and shifts in the Mu us Desert has expanded only in a few areas and on a small scale. In the area to the south of Changle Fort, along the direction of annually prevailing winds, sand drifts have penetrated through the Jialu River valley into the loess region and have formed a sand strip of 32 km long and 3 km wide. To the east of Qingping Fort, sand drifts penetrated toward the eastern loess region through the Luhe River valley and have formed another sand strip of 8 km long and 2 km wide. Generally speaking, though the intensity of human activity has been increasing in this area since the Ming Dynasty, the Mu Us Desert has not significantly expanded toward the southeast or southwest. The sand-loess boundary in the southern fringe of the Mu Us Desert has been almost unchanged since the Ming Dynasty.