Taklamakan Desert Dunes

Taklamakan Desert Dunes

Credit: Kiwi Mikex | Flickr

The sand dunes of the Western Chinese Taklamakan desert were once filled with caravans traveling the Silk Road.

China's Taklamakan Desert

China's Taklamakan Desert

Credit: Kiwi Mikex | Flickr

Though little remains, several kingdoms arose in the desert to support the Silk Road trade

Taklamakan Desert From Space

Taklamakan Desert From Space

Credit: The Real Kvass | Flickr

In 2010, physicist and amateur archaeologist Amelia Carolina Sparavigna began looking for traces of these lost kingdoms in satellite images

Sand Dune Pattern

Sand Dune Pattern

Credit: Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

In the dunes, she found a mysterious grid of dots laid out like a chessboard. The patterns spanned 4.8 miles (8 kilometers) across

Sand Dune Pattern Up Close

Sand Dune Pattern Up Close

Credit: Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

By looking at old satellite images and news reports, Sparavigna learned that large nickel reserves had been found in the area. She deduced that the strange dots were drilling holes for geological surveys done before mining

Faint Dots

Faint Dots

Credit: Google Earth

Another Google Earth view of the strange grid patterns found in China's desert.

Pattern Emerges

Pattern Emerges

Credit: Google Earth

A closer view of the desert pattern reveals what appears as bands of dots.