Xinjiang used to be an ocean, but it has long since disappeared without a trace. It is because it once existed that we pursue it, no matter how far it is from us.
Xinjiang has a vast territory, accounting for16 of China's territory, but it is located in the heart of Asia, more than 2,500 kilometers away from Haidu, with a purely continental climate. So you can't even smell the ocean in Xinjiang. Due to various conditions, Xinjiang people rarely have the opportunity to see the sea, so they call those large water surfaces scattered in Xinjiang "Haizi". Lakes are "seas" and reservoirs are "seas"; The big one is the sea, and the small bubble is also called "sea". Maybe people will joke that Xinjiang people are crazy about the sea. In fact, in geological history, Xinjiang did have a sea period everywhere. Geo-research has proved that in the Tertiary not long ago, the ancient Mediterranean once extended to the Tarim Basin.
Today's media tells people such a picture: majestic desert, violent dust, towering snow peaks, deep canyons, oases, Gua Tian, post stations, camel bells; Countless ruins, long-lost civilization ... Who said that Xinjiang has the sea? Who has seen the sea of Gobi desert in Xinjiang? But that's what nature does. What exists today does not mean that the past has always existed. What existed in the past may not continue to this day. More than 1000 years ago, scholars in the Song Dynasty took the lead in understanding the vicissitudes of life. The ancient legend of China recorded in Shan Hai Jing more than two thousand years ago holds that "beyond the northwest sea" means "not the surrounding mountains". According to people close to us, the mountains that don't surround Tarim are not closed mountain systems such as Tianshan, Kunlun and Altun. Therefore, Tarim is called "Northwest Sea". Since even ancient legends believe that Xinjiang has a sea, it can be seen that Xinjiang used to be a sea, so it is not a sudden rumor. In fact, there are many traces of ancient seas in Xinjiang, China, Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Xinjiang is just a special case far from the modern ocean.
Today, earth science has the conditions to outline the basic outline of global land and sea changes. So, how did the history of land and sea changes in Xinjiang happen?
18-1900 million years ago, only a few small islands and land scattered in the vast ancient Asian ocean in Xinjiang. After19-1800 million years of crustal movement, these island-like lands gradually pieced together into larger landmasses, and after repeated uplift and subsidence, marine strata dominated by carbonate rocks and containing a large number of algae organisms were deposited. In 900-800 million, it was once again combined into two larger lands-Tarim and Yili, and other small islands were still floating in the ancient Asian ocean. From 800 million to 570 million, land glaciers appeared in Tarim and Yili, and then sank into the water to become shallow seas. There have been many large-scale volcanic activities in Tarim. After 570 million years, Tarim and Yili formed a vast shallow sea on the land surface, and Junggar continued to float on the ancient Asian ocean. At first, it was connected with Altai and Tuha, and separated from Siberia by a deep ocean.
439 million years later, it was connected with Siberia. By 409-375 million, Altai was separated from Junggar, and Junggar was almost a sea of fire. Between 355 million and 323 million years, the earth's crust cracked again, forming a fire-breathing rift that separated Junggar and Tuha. The ancient Tethys Sea only reaches the periphery of Tarim and the southeast of northern Xinjiang. The NeoTethys Sea is mainly distributed in Kunlun and Karakorum Mountains, and has entered the Kuqa area of Tarim Basin in the northernmost part. In the long vicissitudes of billions of years, after repeated times, some important minerals related to ocean and crustal movement, such as gold, iron, oil, gypsum, salt and jade, have been formed. Therefore, Xinjiang is rich in mineral resources. This is the reason why Xinjiang is rich in mineral resources. These all come from the information preserved in rocks all over the world today.
Is it possible for Xinjiang to become an ocean again? With the evolution of the earth's history, this possibility does not exist. Of course, this is an extremely long period for mankind. This change in the history of the earth needs more scientific data, so as to predict the changes in its land and sea.
The desert Gobi in Xinjiang is not only a natural museum of the Tethys Sea, but also a huge maze of the past oceans. It will always attract generations of scientists to explore it.