Gobi: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
Information on the Gobi is available in surveys of explorations in the area: Jack Autrey Dabbs, History of the Discovery and Exploration of Chinese Turkestan (1963), a comprehensive introduction with a bibliography; and Sven Hedin, Central Asia and Tibet, trans. from Swedish, 2 vol. (1903, reissued 1969), and Across the Goby Desert (1931, reprinted 1968; originally published in Swedish, 1928). Other records of archaeological and geographic explorations in the area include Aurel Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China, 2 vol. (1912, reprinted 1987), and On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks: Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and North-Western China (1933, reissued 1971); Owen Lattimore, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (1940, reprinted 1988); and Peter Hopkirk, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia (1980). Specific treatments of the Gobi are Mildred Cable, The Gobi Desert (1942, reprinted 1987); Alonzo W. Pond, Climate and Weather in the Central Gobi of Mongolia (1954); and John Man, Gobi: Tracking the Desert (1997). Reports on scientific research in the desert include Michael J. Novacek, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs (1996); and L.A. Owen et al., “Quaternary Alluvial Fans in the Gobi of Southern Mongolia; Evidence for Neotectonics and Climate Change,” Journal of Quaternary Science, 12, 239–252 (1997).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Mikhail Platonovich Petrov
- Guy S. Alitto
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: DesertUSA - The Gobi Desert. | May 02, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Environmental Adaptations of the Gobi Desert Plants in Mongolia: An Example of C4-plants (PDF). | Jan 23, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - A Study of the Diversity Patterns of Desert Vegetation Communities in an Arid Zone of China. | Aug 30, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Nature - Nature Communications - Recent wetting trend over Taklamakan and Gobi Desert dominated by internal variability. | Nov 26, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Nature - Scientific Reports - The impact of large-scale afforestation on ecological environment in the Gobi region. | Nov 12, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Environmental Adaptations of the Gobi Desert Plants in Mongolia: An Example of C4-plants (PDF). | Jul 05, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: UNESCO World Heritage Convention - Desert Landscapes of the Mongolian Great Gobi. | May 03, 2024 | ||
| Media added. | Nov 09, 2021 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Geographic - Gobi Desert. | Feb 06, 2020 | ||
| Add new Web site: Interesting Facts for Kids - Gobi Desert Facts for Kids. | Feb 06, 2020 | ||
| Added a locator map that depicts the geographic extent of the Gobi. | Nov 07, 2017 | ||
| Updated geologic time data. | Nov 07, 2017 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Nov 07, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: DesertUSA - The Gobi Desert. | Feb 28, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: World Wildlife Fund - Gobi Desert, Central Asia. | Jul 15, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - Gobi Desert, Central Asia. | Jul 15, 2013 | ||
| Geologic time data updated. | Oct 06, 2009 | ||
| Bibliography updated. | Mar 06, 2009 | ||
| Article thoroughly revised and updated; photographs added. | Mar 06, 2009 | ||
| Added new Web site: Buzzle.com - Democracy. | Jul 08, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: Lonely Planet - Gobi Desert, Asia. | Dec 06, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Buzzle.com - Ileum Function. | Dec 06, 2007 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 26, 1999 |