Taklimakan

Desert in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, forming part of the Gobi desert; area about 297,850 sq km/115,000 sq mi. It extends from east to west for 970 km/600 mi and from north to south for 325 km/200 mi. It is bounded to the east by the lake Lop Nur, to the north by the Tien Shan Mountains, to the west and north by the River Yarkand Daria (which joins the Tarim), and to the south by the Kunlun Mountains.