Tarim He

The Tarim Basin, 2008

NASA landsat photo of the Tarim Basin

The Tarim Basin (Chinese: 塔里木盆地; pinyin: Tǎlǐmù Péndì; Uyghur: تارىم ئويمانلىقى) is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of more than 400,000 km² (150,000 sq mi). It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The area is sparsely settled by the Uyghurs, other Turkic peoples and Tajiks.

Geology

The Tarim Basin is the remains of an ancient microcontinent that amalgamated with the growing Eurasian continent during the Carboniferous to Permian. At present, deformation around the margins of the basin is resulting in the microcontinental crust being underthrust beneath the Tian Shan to the north, and the Kunlun Shan to the south.

The Tarim Basin is believed to contain large reserves of petroleum and natural gas, with methane comprising over 70 percent of the natural gas reserve, up to 9.2 bb.^{[specify][which units?][1][not in citation given]} A thick succession of Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks occupy the central parts of the basin, locally exceeding thicknesses of 15 km (9 mi). The source rocks of oil and gas tend to be Permian mudstones. Below this level is a complex Precambrian basement believed to be the remnants of the original Tarim microplate, which accrued to the growing Eurasian continent in Carboniferous time. The snow on K2, the second highest mountain in the world, flows into glaciers which move down the valleys to melt. The melted water forms rivers which flow down the mountains and into the Tarim Basin, never reaching the sea. Surrounded by desert, some rivers feed the oases where the water is used for irrigation while others flow to salt lakes and marshes.

History

Tarim Basin in the 3rd century

Surrounded by mountains, some say that the Tarim Basin was one of the last places on earth to be occupied by humans, as its aridness required that technology for water transport and storage be developed before humans could live there.^[2] The Silk Road, a series of trade routes through regions of Asia, splits into two routes: the North Silk Road along the northern edge^[3] and another along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the basin. A middle route was deserted in the sixth century. The southern trackway includes the oasis towns of Yarkand, Niya, Pishan, Marin and Khotan. The key oasis towns along the northern route are Aksu, Korla, Turfan, Gaochang and Loulan. Other key towns include Kashgar in the South-West, Kuqa in the North, and Dunhuang in the East.

Formerly the Tocharian languages were spoken in the Tarim Basin. They were the easternmost of the Indo-European languages. The Chinese name "Yuezhi" (Chinese 月氏; Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih) denoted an ancient Central Asian people settled in modern eastern Tarim Basin, who, vanquished by the Xiongnu, later migrated southward in order to form the Kushan Empire, which was centred on Afghanistan/Pakistan, but also extended into northern India.

The Han Chinese managed to take control of the Tarim Basin from the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st century under the leadership of general Ban Chao (32–102 CE).

The powerful Kushans expanded back into the Tarim Basin in the 1st–2nd centuries CE, where they established a kingdom in Kashgar and competed for control of the area with nomads and Chinese forces. They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Buddhism, playing a central role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Eastern Asia.

Lop Nur, a saline marshy depression at the east end of the Tarim Basin, is a nuclear test site for the People's Republic of China. The Tarim River empties into the Lop Nur.

Archaeology

Fresco from a stupa shrine, Miran

Although archaeological findings are of interest in the Tarim Basin, the prime impetus for exploration was petroleum and natural gas. Recent research with help of GIS database have provided a fine-grained analysis of the ancient oasis of Niya on the Silk Road. This research led to significant findings; remains of hamlets with wattle and daub structures as well as farm land, orchards, vineyards, irrigation pools and bridges. The oasis at Niya preserves the ancient landscape. Here also have been found hundreds of 3rd and 4th century wooden accounting tablets at several settlements across the oasis. These texts are in the Gāndhārī language script native to today's Pakistan and Afghanistan. The texts are legal documents such as tax lists, and contracts containing detailed information pertaining to the administration of daily affairs.^[4]

Additional excavations have unearthed tombs with mummies,^[5] tools, ceramic works, painted pottery and other artistic artifacts. Such diversity was encouraged by the cultural contacts resulting from this area's position on the Silk Road.^[6] Early Buddhist sculptures and murals excavated at Miran show artistic similarities to the traditions of Central Asia and North India^[7] and stylistic aspects of paintings found there suggest that Miran had a direct connection with the West, specifically Rome and its provinces.^[8]

See also

• Tocharians
• Geography of China
• Kara-Khanid Khanate
• Kunlun Mountains
• Flaming Mountains
• Takla Makan Desert
• Tarim mummies
• Turfan water system

Notes

1. ^ Tongwei Zhang, Quanyou Liu, Jinxing Dai, and Yongchun Tang, Natural Gas Geochemistry in the Tarim Basin, China and Its Indication to Gas Filling History Aug 20, 2007
2. ^ Wong, Edward. "Rumbles on the Rim of China’s Empire - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/weekinreview/12wong.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-13. 
3. ^ Silk Road, North China, C.Michael Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
4. ^ "Archaeological GIS and Oasis Geography in the Tarim Basin". The Silk Road Foundation Newsletter. http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol2num2/oasis.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. 
5. ^ David W. Anthony, Tracking the Tarim Mummies, Archaeology, Volume 54 Number 2, March/April 2001
6. ^ "A Discussion of Sino-Western Cultural Contact and Exchange in the Second Millennium BC Based on Recent Archeological Discoveries". http://sino-platonic.org/abstracts/spp097_sino_western.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. 
7. ^ "Silk Road Trade Routes". University of Washington. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/trade/trade.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
8. ^ "Ten Centuries of Art on the Silk Road". http://www.asianart.com/forum/serindia.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 

References

• Baumer, Christoph. 2000. Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin. White Orchid Books. Bangkok.
• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition. [1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
• Mallory, J.P. and Mair, Victor H. 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson. London. ISBN 0-500-05101-1
• Stein, Aurel M. 1907. Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan, 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford. [3]
• Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980. [4]
• Stein Aurel M. 1928. Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran, 5 vols. Clarendon Press. Reprint: New Delhi. Cosmo Publications. 1981.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tarim Basin

• Silk Road Seattle (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works)
• The International Dunhuang Project