Geology for Global Development

Friday Photo (52) – Taklamakan Desert

We’ve now had a whole year of ‘Friday Photos’ on our old blog and now this new EGU hosted blog. As a special treat today we have not one, but three images from the  Taklamakan Desert and some of the highest sand dunes in China.

 

Taklamakan Desert, China: Geotourism close to the oasis town of Dunhuang

Another example of geotourism in Gansu Province. The dunes and crescent moon lake oasis near Dunhuang are a hub for tourist activity in the area. Education and conservation however are poorly managed in favour of income generation.

(c) Geology for Global Development, 2012

For other images in our ‘Friday Photo’ series – please see the full archive here

Joel is the Founder/Director of Geology for Global Development (@Geo_Dev) an organisation working to support geologists to make a sustainable contribution to the fight against global poverty. He is an interdisciplinary researcher, with a PhD in geography (natural hazards), and research interests in multi-hazard frameworks, disaster risk reduction, rural water projects, and sustainable development. This work has taken him to Chile, China, Guatemala, India, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Joel is currently based at the British Geological Survey, and tweets at @JoelCGill.


1 Comment

  1. Interesting how they turned an oasis into a tourist spot.

    I live on the Oregon coast, and there are sand dunes in the area.

    Some have been turned into tourist attractions in which dune buggies are driven around the area, people can go sand boarding down the dunes ( see youtube “sandboarding oregon”) and some of the lakes among the dunes can be swum in.

    It is quite the tourist attraction in the summer. However, certain people are also trying to protect the areas and the flora and fauna in them.

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