The Singing Dunes of Badain Jaran
In a Chinese desert of some of the world's tallest dunes, the sand roars and hidden lakes lie between the peaks.
What was reported
The Badain Jaran Desert, in Inner Mongolia, has some of the tallest stationary sand dunes on Earth, some rising around 500 metres. Between them lie more than a hundred small lakes, some fresh and some salty, fed by water from beneath the sand.
On dry days, sand sliding down the steep faces of the dunes gives off a deep booming hum, and local people call some of them singing dunes.
Explanations offered
The booming comes from dry sand grains avalanching together and vibrating, the same effect heard at Kelso and elsewhere. The lakes are fed by groundwater, though scientists still debate where it comes from: local rain, water stored from wetter times long ago, or distant mountains.
- When
- Ongoing
- Where
- Badain Jaran Desert, Inner Mongolia, China
- Witnesses
- Herders and travellers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.