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Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...

. Argu Tagh ( Turkic ''Argu Tag'' and ''Kumysh Tag'' meaning "Silver Mountains",

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

''Qinling'' meaning "Onion Mountains") is a mountain range separating the

Turan Depression The Turan Depression, Turan Lowland or Turanian Basin is a low-lying desert basin region stretching from southern Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan. Geography The lowland region lies to the east of the Caspian Sea and southeast ...

from the

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

region of China. The Argu Tagh range is a northern extension of Kunlun Mountains, it continues northeast to the basin of Ili River, northwest beyond the

Balkhash Lake Lake Balkhash ( kk, Балқаш көлі, ''Balqaş kóli'', ; russian: озеро Балхаш, ozero Balkhash) is a lake in southeastern Kazakhstan, one of the largest lakes in Asia and the 15th largest in the world. It is located in the ea ...

, westward and northeast from Kashgar, stretching along the southern edge of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

, and forming the southern edge of the

Taklamakan Desert The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and T ...

. As "Onion Mountains", the Argu Tagh range was frequently mentioned in the Chinese Annals starting in the 2nd century BC, Bichurin N.Ya. ''"Statistical Description of Chinese Empire"'', Moscow, Eastern House, 2002, p. 312, (1st print 1842), , ''In Russian'' played a prominent role in the routes of the ancient Silk Road, and was a theater of many historical military and political events.

References

Mountain ranges of Kazakhstan Mountain ranges of Kyrgyzstan Mountain ranges of Xinjiang Sites along the Silk Road {{kyrgyzstan-geo-stub