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This image shows the area around the town of Pishan, in northwest China. Pishan is a small town located in the Taklamakan Desert of the Xinjiang province of China, about 280 km (174 mi) southeast of the city of Kashgar. The irregular lavender patches toward the center of the image are the remains of ancient alluvial fans, which are gravel deposits that accumulate at the bases of mountains. The smoother lavender patches toward the top of the image are younger alluvial fans. The yellow regions on the smoother lavender patches are vegetated oases, which are supplied by water from a nearby reservoir. The image was obtained by SIR-C/X-SAR on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 15, 1994 and shows an area about 50 km (31 mi) on a side.
Image and text copyright © Astrographics. All rights reserved. Image courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
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