Some geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi region (as defined above): the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami (Kumul), as forming a separate and independent desert, called the Taklamakan Desert.
Razmeroma veliko območje na vzhodni strani pogorja Khingan, med zgornjim tokom reke Songhua (Sungari) in zgornjim tokom Liao-ho naj bi pripadala klasični puščavi Gobi.