After having finished a two-week expedition to the world-famous Lop Nor, a CAS team came back on Sept. 12 safe and sound to Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Lop Nor, a former saline lake that is now a salt-encrusted lake bed, lies in the Tarim Basin of the eastern Taklamakan Desert, one of the most barren areas in China. It was well known in history for its key position on the ancient Silk Road. Nowadays, it is considered a typical region to show the evolution of Xinjiang in terms of history, geography and geology, and received close attention from scientific community of the world.

The 20-member team was led by Prof. Xia Xuncheng from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology & Geography and advised by Prof. Liu Dongsheng from the CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics, who, 87, was 2002 laureate of the Tyler Prize for Environment Achievements and 2004 winner of the Supreme S&T Prize in China.

During the journey, the CAS researchers made efforts to achieve a better understanding of the following issues: ecological situation in the lower reaches of Tarim River and the Lop Nor area, and reasons for its deterioration; ecological situation after drawing off water to the lower reaches of Tarim River for six times in recent years; ecological changes in the area during the past millennium; changing characteristics of the water bodies in Lob Nor; the puzzle of a "big ear" detected by the satellite-relayed operations of aerial photography; the causative factors for "yadan" landforms; chronology and its paleo-environmental significance in sand dunes of red willows; the causes responsible for the devastation of the ancient city of Lolan; possibility to restore the original scenery of a watery land in today’s dried lakebed of Lop Nor and some key points in the envisaged blueprint for the area’s ecosystem rehabilitation. As a result of the expedition, important discoveries and new understanding have been achieved and further exploration and analysis are underway.