Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 333-348.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.02.13

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of the Hotan River on the spatial pattern of surrounding eolian landforms in Xinjiang

WANG Xumin1,2(), GAO Xin1(), HU Zihao3, ZHOU Jie1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. University of Emergency Management, Beijing 101601, China
  • Received:2024-11-07 Revised:2024-11-26 Online:2025-02-15 Published:2025-02-21
  • Contact: GAO Xin E-mail:wangxumin22@mails.ucas.ac.cn;gaoxin@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Abstract:

The interaction between wind and water is key in shaping the morphology and spatial distribution of eolian landforms. Quantifying the influence of rivers on eolian landforms has always been challenging. This work selected the Hotan River, which crosses the Taklamakan Desert and the surrounding eolian landforms, as the research object. Based on high-resolution remote-sensing images, DEM and NDVI data, comparing relevant characteristic parameters of typical cross-sections, and analyzing the pattern of eolian landforms and the changes in river channel morphological parameters, the following results were obtained. (1) In the intersection area of the Hotan River and eolian landforms, NDVI=0.05 can be used as a critical value to distinguish the influence of rivers on the pattern of eolian landforms. Consequently, the spatial distribution of the area affected by the Hotan River on eolian landforms is revealed: its area is 20700 km2 and its width ranges from 6 to 121 km. (2) The channel morphology of the Hotan River changes little, making it difficult to cause long-distance lateral migration of the river channel; the impact area on the surrounding eolian landforms will not change significantly. In the process of the interaction between wind and water, the Hotan River plays a leading role. Moreover, the southern section belongs to the fully fluvial dominant type, while the northern section belongs to the mostly fluvial dominant type. (3) The distribution pattern of eolian landforms that can be recognized as sabkhas, longitudinal dunes, transverse ridges, and reticulate dunes in sequence from the river channel to both sides results from long-term interactions between wind and water.

Key words: Hotan River, aeolian landform pattern, dune type, interaction between wind and water, Taklamakan Desert