Climate of the Kunlun Mountains
- Chinese (Pinyin):
- Kunlun Shan or
- (Wade-Giles romanization):
- K’un-lun Shan
The Kunlun Mountains are almost totally isolated from the climatic influence of the Indian and Pacific Ocean monsoons. Instead, they are under the constant influence of the continental air mass, which causes great annual and diurnal temperature fluctuations. Maximum aridity occurs in the middle segment of the mountain system; to the west and east, however, the climate is somewhat moderated.
In the most arid part of the Kunlun Mountains, precipitation is less than 2 inches (50 mm) annually in the foothills and about 4 to 5 inches (100 to 150 mm) in the high elevations; near the Pamirs and the Tibetan mountains, the amount of annual precipitation increases to about 18 inches (460 mm). In the lower tier of mountains (those bordering the northern plains), the average temperature is 77 to 82 °F (25 to 28 °C) in July and not lower than 16 °F (− 9 °C) in January; in the upper tier of mountains and on the border of Tibet, however, the average temperature in July is less than 50 °F (10 °C) and often falls to − 31 °F (− 35 °C) or lower in winter.
The extremely sharp daily fluctuations of temperature in the high-elevation zone create conditions of intense weathering from heat and frost, producing enormous quantities of loose material in those areas. Also characteristic of the Kunlun Mountains are their high winds, the strongest of which occur in autumn; the winds of the Qaidam Basin are particularly noteworthy.
Plant and animal life
The desert or, at best, steppe conditions prevailing throughout the Kunlun Mountains inhibit development of vegetation. Much of the terrain consists of rock deserts. Occasional stagnant water pools provide browsing and water for several wild ungulates, such as the Tibetan gazelle and Tibetan goat antelope (chiru), along with large herds of wild asses (kiang) and clusters of wild yaks. In the more humid western mountains, argali sheep (Ovis ammon) graze on the high grasslands. On the upper crags blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Ladakh urials, and ibex range sporadically throughout the western reaches. Willow thickets near watercourses frequently contain brown bears, and wolves are endemic; the snow leopard is rare. Many migratory waterfowl visit the lakes during seasonal migration.
People and economy
Despite the extreme climatic and topographic conditions, the Kunlun Mountains and adjacent areas support permanent and migratory populations. On the northern slopes are found Uighurs, up from the oases, and occasional Mongols. South to the northern areas of Tibet, Tibetan pastoral nomads have commandeered large expanses of formerly abandoned steppe grazing lands. Mountain Tajik and Kyrgyz remnants occupy the few settlements in the deep valleys of the western mountains adjacent to the Karakoram and Pamir ranges. Chinese (Han) are ubiquitous, with concentrations along the extensive and well-maintained network of gravel roads that has been constructed since 1949.
Irrigation in a few areas sustains limited crop farming; otherwise, pastoralism constitutes the economic base, with a focus on yak and yak crossbreeds, sheep, goats, and occasionally cattle. High-yielding strains of wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, and rapeseed occupy the greater part of Tibet’s arable land. The grass crop is low in volume but high in nutrients and protein.
The hard-surfaced trans-Tibetan road from Dunhuang to Lhasa serves the settlements in Qinghai. Golmud, itself a modern city rising from the windblown flats of the Qaidam Basin, is a railway terminus. Several other major roads from the Tarim Basin oases penetrate the Kunlun massif. Trucks supply vegetables, building materials, motor fuel, and sundry goods to the farthest settlements and deliver raw materials such as petroleum, soda ash, and coal from extraction sites to nearby towns.
Study and exploration
The northern rim of the Kunlun Mountains, skirting the Tarim Basin, served for centuries as the southerly branch of the Silk Road that, until the 16th century, connected China with Central and Southwest Asia. Wool and salt were the main products brought down from the heights of the Kunluns to the oases on the edge of the Takla Makan Desert. Small regional Buddhist monasteries retained Tibetans as serfs, but repeated Muslim incursions from the north kept the Kunluns in a state of flux.
British attempts to tap the trading potential of Chinese Turkistan spurred adventurers to probe the western end of the Kunluns, but it was not until the end of the 19th century that explorers such as the Swede Sven Anders Hedin mustered enough resources to plot the western Kunlun Mountains. Several travelers used the east-west route in Tsinghai, through the eastern extensions of the Kunluns and Golmud as an alternative route to the Gansu Corridor. With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, these peripheral territories came under central control, and Chinese scientific expeditions explored throughout the area. Major Chinese scientific accomplishments have defined the geology, glaciation, soils, and vegetation of the Kunlun Mountains. Another study, entailing international cooperation, has focused on the physiological and ecological adaptability of the various Kunlun ethnic groups to the high marginal environment adjoining the range’s southern rim.
Beginning in the 1980s, numerous geological expeditions have been undertaken by Sino-French and Sino-American teams to examine the evolution of the Kunlun Mountains and in particular the nature of tectonic movements along the Altun fault system.
Vasily Mikhaylovich Sinitsyn Nigel John Roger Allan