A remote, arid and rugged area, Gurbantünggüt Desert is separated by the Tian Shan mountains from the Ili River Basin, Turfan Depression and the Tarim Basin of the Southern Xinjiang. A chain of cities, the largest of which is Ürümqi, are located within a populated strip (the route of the Lanxin Railway) south of the desert, which is irrigated by glacier-fed streams flowing from the Tian Shan. The Irtysh-Karamay Canal, constructed during the first decade of the 21st century, skirts the deserts northwestern edge; the Irtysh-Ürümqi Canal crosses the desert's central part.