1923%20Memoir%20on%20Maps%20of%20Chinese%20Turkistan%20by%20Stein%20s

Sec. iv.] TI11C LOP DEPRESSION AND TIJItFAN HASIN 47
bxts has become familiar to geogmpherfi-contain motlerately frrsh water, ;~t leaet, in the parts
near the entrance of the TBrirn, lras gi\re~~ rise to t.hc r~~oeh-tlisct1nst.11 'I.op-nor cluestion',
pcrhaps quite as rrruclr as elt~cidatetl ly the controversial literature which hioce
the days of I'reje\.alsky a~!tl Iticlrthofen has accui11111atetl over it in the absence of adequate
Beyond the northern ctlge of those ~l~arshes, wit11 their fringe I J dried-up ~ salt lagoorls
fillctl at ti~r~cs I J cxecl)fio~ral ~
floods tlrc T:irir~t, t1rt.r~ extends an area
Ancient dcltn of
of bare clay overrnn hy liyhl. sand iind undergoing rxcessive svintl-
K,,rwk-dar!,,i,
erosior~. It is crossed by a series of \\.ell-~~~arked dry rive-r-bed*, ant1
of t,hrse our sttrveys have ~rroved tha.t they reprrsrnt tire southrrn portion of an ar~cient tlelta
formed by the tlried-up 'Kuruk-daryl', \vhich during the first centuries before and after Chrint
rarrirtl the waters of thts Kor~rlie-tlaryg (together, l~crl~a~)a, wit11 some atlditiolr from northeln
tributaries of the Tirim, like the lnchike-tlarya) to the then-occupietl territory of Lou-Ian. '
The erosive action of wind-driven sand lras covered the tlrietl-III) tleltrt ant1 the whole
area of that ancient territory as far as the foot of the Kuruk-tBglr with
'Vind-erOde'l desert' Of an endless successiou of '!lirrlnn!,..v', steep ritl~cs carvetl out of the
I.on- la,^.
alluvial clay autl separated 1))- parallel trencher. A11 lie in the 11ireet~io11
of the prevailins nort,h-east \vintls \vlrirlr 'aspiratiotr'clra~v~ clo\vn fro111 tl~e plateaus of tl~r Eurl~kt~gh
ant1 so~rt~hern Alongolia into the 1,011 tlrprcssion during great portions of tl~e year. " Abundant
archaological evidence, Lrovgl~t to 1ight:rt. various aneie~~t sites uf Lou-Ian, makes it certain
that the ~vatt~rs carried t)y the I