The Badain Jaran desert in western Inner Mongolia in China has a unique landscape that contains 72 lakes, with a total water surface area of 23 km2, and the world's highest stationary sand dunes, which are up to 500 m tall--despite the prevailing dry and windy weather conditions. Here we present evidence of a major groundwater system that underpins the factors leading to this landscape. Our finding could transform plans for the region's water resources.

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In the title compound, Bi(2)B(8)O(15), the Bi atom is coordinated to five or six O atoms. The B atoms exhibit two kinds of hybridization, sp(2) and sp(3), seen in the BO(3) triangles and BO(4) tetrahedra, respectively. Three BO(3) triangles are connected to form a B(3)O(6) planar ring. All atoms in the structure are connected together to form an infinite three-dimensional network.

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Cubic KTa1-xNbxO3single crystals with difference compositions have been grown by Czochralski technique in KTaO3- KNbO3solid solution system. Growth habit, morphological feature, and other properties of two different composition KTN crystals, KTa0.65Nb0.35O3, and KTa0.63Nb0.37O3are investigated in this work. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) experimental results show that all crystals belong to cubic phase at room temperature, lattice parameterais 3.993 and 3.994Å corresponded to the composition of x (Nb) =0.35, 0.37, respectively. HXRD and AFM measurement results show all KTN crystals are in high integrity and good quality. The transmittance spectra of KTN crystals show that the cut off wavelength of KTN crystals decreased with the Nb increasing in the crystal. The dielectric-temperature measurement results shows KTN crystal have optimal performance on Kerr effect at the Currie temperature of the crystal. All the results show that the KTN crystals we grown are in good quality and have a broad application prospects