Wushao Mountain, Wushao Ling Mountain or Wushaoling (simplified Chinese: 乌鞘岭; traditional Chinese: 烏鞘嶺; pinyin: Wūshāolǐng) is a landform in Gansu Province, China, with significant desert elements on its northern slope.
The mountain has been a barrier to transportation since ancient times, when the Northern Silk Road found a passage across its terrain.[1] The western slope of Wushao Ling combined with adjoining slopes of Lanshan Mountain comprises over 30 percent of the desert area of China. Given the current[needs update] trend in China's land use policies, desertification of the Wushao Ling slopes and other Chinese deserts is projected to expand.[2]
The mountain range is crossed by:
Mount Wushao has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwc). The average annual temperature in Mount Wushao is 0.3 °C (32.5 °F). The average annual rainfall is 407.3 mm (16.04 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 11.8 °C (53.2 °F), and lowest in January, at around −11.3 °C (11.7 °F).