"Dinosaurs Along The Silk Road" -- Sinofossa 2009 7: Around Lanzhou

From Beijing, we flew into the city of Lanzhou in eastern Gansu Province. That would be the starting point of the rest of our journey. These are pictures taken on the drive from the airport to Lanzhou (about an hour -- the city is in a valley that offers little good opportunity for landing planes) and around the city.

In many places, the loess deposits, which have been eroded into hills over time, have been terraced for farming purposes.
More terraced loess.
Loess is also interesting because it has a peculiar property: even though you can pick up chunks of it and crumble them easily in your hand, the grain size of loess creates a sort of microscopic strength that enables it to be carved and sculpted without crumbling. In many loess deposits around the world, tunnels can be carved easily through it without fear tat they will collapse; dwellings can also be carved into loess deposits. The cave-like things seen in the loess hillside here are actually little shelters carved out by local shepherds as refuge from rain while out tending their flocks.
More domiciles in loess.