Controlling Sand Movement Through Mechanical Measures: China’s Experience - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 43

5 Implementation of Mechanical Measures

in China - Proven Practices

In the arid part of northwest China, transport routes links are very important for the
economic development of the region and to the welfare of the people. Hence, the
total length of the railway lines crossing the sandy area are about 1,200 km, with
wind-sand catastrophe taking place in an area of about 200 km wide and 1,000 km
long, these include railway lines of Baotou-Lanzhou, Jining-Erlianhaote, Gantang-
Wuwei, Lanzhou-Wulumqi, Baotou-Shengfu and there are other lines which are
under construction. Effective prevention and control measures have been applied
to about 50 % of the rail lines in the desert region (Chen Guangting 2005 ). There
are lots of major highway lines passing through the arid areas and these include
the highways of Xilinhaote-Zhangjiakou in Inner Mongolia that cross the sandy
area of Hunsantake, Baotou-Yulin crossing the Kubuqi and Maowusu desert and the
highway of Taklamakan desert. The last mentioned has been a great success but
involved many challenges (Box 2.1 ).

Box 2.1: The Miracle of the Takliman Desert Highway

Taklimakan desert is the largest in China and the second most active desert
in the world. Eighty-five percent of the area is drifting dunes, having the
strongest fluxion among the entire deserts in the world. Ninety-two percent
of these sand dune lines cross the mobile sand area, and are composed of
all kinds of mobile dunes with different shapes and heights. The mechanical
measures of prevention, stabilization, transportation, conduction, and control
are all used synthetically. Building a highway in this desert marked the study
of measures on controlling sands. The designers took part in the design of the
road beds, especially on the wind gap or sand platforms, designing sections for
transporting sands, and cleared the barrier on both sides of the lines allowing
the sand flows to cross the roads and with no depositing on the road beds.
In the section where the wind is uni-directional, dividing fence into sections
with tangle angles creates feather rows to conduct sands. However, most of
the prevention systems are sand-fences and straw checkerboards along the
desert highway in Taklimakan desert. The materials used to weave fences
are taken from reeds and in order to construct fences quickly, nylon webs
had superseded most fence material. The widths of shelterbelts are laid out
according to the positions of the aeolian sand landforms and are adapted with
flexibility.
The prevention method together with the mechanical measures along
the desert highway in Taklimakan desert assure that the highway remains
open, accelerating oil exploration and exploitation and development in the

(continued)