Recently flying back to Europe across Xinjiang I looked down on an empty desert of brown and grey wastes broken occasionally by small green patches of life. The scene changed dramatically as a large snow-covered mountain range, the Tianshan (Mountains of Heaven), came into view. These great peaks are the result of massive tectonic (earth moving) activity as several continental land masses crashed into each other and were pushed upwards. This has been happening for millions of years. Western Asia is one of the most active geological areas in the world. Regular severe earthquakes show the collisions are still occurring and the mountains are still rising.

These great fold mountain ranges are a natural trap for clouds that release their moisture as snow on the peaks. Over thousands of years the accumulations of snow formed ice fields which have acted as natural reservoirs providing life-giving water for plants, animals and people living on their surrounding slopes. The streams eventually flow down into the desert and allow life to exist in some of Xinjiang's famous oases such as Turpan.

Since the last Ice Age (about 10,000 years ago) there has been gradual climatic warming. This has resulted in the level of permanent ice creeping back higher up the mountains. When this happens physical features previously hidden under the ice are exposed. Tianchi, the "Lake of Heaven" sitting below the summit of Bogda Feng ("Mountain of God") used to be a great bowl-shaped hollow filled by ice hundreds of metres thick. Today the bowl is filled with water.

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