Gobi desert map：Gobi Desert | Map, Plants

The Gobi consists of the Gaxun, Junggar (Dzungarian), and Trans-Altai Gobi in the west, the Eastern, or Mongolian, Gobi in the centre and east, and the Alxa Plateau[1] (Ala Shan Desert) in the south.

The Gaxun Gobi is bounded by the spurs[2] of the Tien Shan[3] to the west and the Bei Mountains to the south and rises to elevations as high as 5,000 feet (1,500 metres). It is gently corrugated, with a complex labyrinth of wide hollows separated by flat hills and rocky crests sometimes rising more than 300 feet (90 metres) above the plain. The desert[4] is stony and nearly waterless, though salt marshes[5] lie in the secluded depressions. The soil[6] is grayish brown and contains gypsum[7] and halite[8] (rock salt). Vegetation is rare, though richer in the riverbeds, where there are individual shrubs[9] of tamarisk[10], saxaulon and nitre bush (a saltwort), and annual halophytes (salt-tolerant plants[11]).