Which desert stretches across northern China and southern Mongolia?

The desert stretching across northern China and southern Mongolia is the Gobi Desert.

The Gobi is a vast cold desert and grassland region in East Asia, covering roughly 1.3 million square kilometres. It extends about 1,600 kilometres from southwest to northeast and is bounded by major mountain systems, including the Altai, Tian Shan, and Qilian ranges. Despite its size, much of the Gobi is rocky or gravelly rather than covered in rolling sand dunes.

Its name comes from the Mongolian word gov’, meaning “dryland.” The region has severe seasonal contrasts: winter temperatures can fall below −40°C, while summer heat can rise above 40°C in some areas. Snow and frost are possible, especially because much of the desert lies on an elevated plateau.

The Gobi is also famous for paleontology. Expeditions there uncovered some of the first scientifically recognized dinosaur eggs, as well as fossils of dinosaurs and ancient mammals. It is often confused with China’s Taklamakan Desert, but the Taklamakan lies farther west in the Tarim Basin and is a separate desert.