Which desert spans southern Mongolia and northern China?

The Gobi Desert spans southern Mongolia and northern China.

The Gobi is a vast cold desert covering roughly 1.3 million square kilometres. Unlike popular images of deserts dominated by dunes, much of the Gobi consists of bare rock, gravel plains, and dry grassland. Its elevation and continental location produce very large seasonal temperature changes.

The Altai Mountains, Khangai Mountains, and other ranges surround or cross parts of the Gobi. Rainfall is low because the region lies far from oceans and because surrounding mountains limit the arrival of moist air. Winters can be severely cold, while summer temperatures can become very high.

The Gobi is internationally important for paleontology. Fossils of dinosaurs, including the nest-discovered Protoceratops and the famous Velociraptor specimen, were found in its Cretaceous rock formations. The Flaming Cliffs at Bayanzag became especially notable after expeditions in the 1920s.