![Danxia 0816](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Danxia_0816.JPG)
The Danxia landform () refers to various landscapes found in southeast, southwest and northwest China that "consist of a red
bed
A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax.
Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...
characterized by steep cliffs".
It is a unique type of
petrographic
Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The class ...
geomorphology
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...
found in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Danxia
landform
A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...
is formed from red-coloured
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
s and
conglomerates of largely
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
age. The landforms look very much like
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
topography that forms in areas underlain by
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
s, but since the rocks that form danxia are sandstones and conglomerates, they have been called "pseudo-karst" landforms. They were formed by endogenous forces (including
uplift
Uplift may refer to: Science
* Geologic uplift, a geological process
** Tectonic uplift, a geological process
* Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass
* Uplift mountains
* Llano Uplift
* Nemaha Uplift
Business
* Uplif ...
) and exogenous forces (including
weathering
Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs ''in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement), ...
and
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
).
The first studies on what are now referred to as Danxia landforms were conducted at
Mount Danxia
Mount Danxia () is a noted scenic mountainous area in Renhua County, in the northern part of Guangdong province. It is described on the local signage as a "world famous UNESCO geopark of China". It was inscribed as part of the China Danxia World H ...
near
Shaoguan
Shaoguan (; Hakka: Seukoan) is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong Province (Yuebei), South China, bordering Hunan to the northwest and Jiangxi to the northeast. It is home to the mummified remains of the sixth Zen Buddhist patriarch H ...
, China. In the 1920s and 1930s Chinese geologists made an effort to learn more about these interesting geomorphic structures. Danxia landforms are made up of uplifted continental crust that has been faulted and eroded, exposing large scarps of layered rock, red in color.
Danxia landforms cover several provinces in southeast China.
Taining County
Taining County () is a county in the northwest of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is the northernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Sanming.
Area: .
Population: 130,000.
Postal Code: 354400.
The county ...
, Fujian Province, has very good examples of "young" danxia landforms wherein deep, narrow valleys have been formed. As the landform gets older, valleys widen and one gets isolated towers and ridges.The danxia landform is named after Mount Danxia, one of the most famous examples of the danxia landform. A very peculiar feature of danxia landscape is the development of numerous
cave
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
s of various sizes and shapes. The caves tend to be shallow and isolated, unlike true karst terrain where caves tend to form deep, interconnecting networks. In 2010, several danxia landscapes in southern China, with a general name of "
China Danxia
The Danxia landform () refers to various landscapes found in southeast, southwest and northwest China that "consist of a red bed characterized by steep cliffs". It is a unique type of petrographic geomorphology found in China. Danxia landform is ...
", were inscribed as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. The six inscribed danxia landform areas are:
Mount Langshan
Langshan or Mount Lang () is a mountain and a scenic area in Xinning County, Hunan, China. It is described on the local signage as a "world famous UNESCO geopark of China" and was inscribed as part of the China Danxia World Heritage Site in 201 ...
and
Mount Wanfo (
Hunan Province
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi t ...
),
Mount Danxia
Mount Danxia () is a noted scenic mountainous area in Renhua County, in the northern part of Guangdong province. It is described on the local signage as a "world famous UNESCO geopark of China". It was inscribed as part of the China Danxia World H ...
(
Guangdong Province
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
),
Taining and
Mount Guanzhi (
Fujian Province
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...
),
Mount Longhu
Mount Longhu (, Gan: Lung-fu San) is located in Yingtan, Jiangxi, China. It is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with many Taoist temples built upon the mountainside. It is particularly important to the Zhengyi Dao as the Shan ...
and
Guifeng (
Jiangxi Province
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...
),
Fangyan,
Mount Jianglang
Jianglangshan or Mount Jianglang () is a mountain in Jiangshan, Zhejiang, China. Three peaks from north to south make its recognizable "river-shaped" arrangement, as follows: Lang Feng, Ya Feng and Ling Feng. Lang Feng has elevation of .
The mou ...
(
Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...
), and
Mount Chishui (
Guizhou Province
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...
). The total core area of 6 regions above is 73945 ha (182,722 acres), and the total buffer area is 65446 ha (161,720 acres).
Other notable danxia areas, such as
Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park
The Zhangye National Geopark () is located in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Sunan and Linze counties within the prefecture-level city of Zhangye, in Gansu, China. It covers an area of . The site became a quasi-national geopark on April 23, 2012 ...
, are not included in the World Heritage Site.
Geology
Around 80 million years ago (
Ma) cretaceous red sandstone and conglomerate was laid down by sedimentation from the lakes and streams.
After another 15 million years, tectonic plate movements created many faults.
About 23 Ma, movement of the Himalayan range disturbed the land around the Danxia landform in the Guangdong Province of China uplifting and completely changing the topography of the area.
Over millions of years the steep cliffs that can be seen today, exposed by faults, were formed through weathering and erosion. This geology can be seen at Danxiashan Geopark in China, where there is about 290 square kilometers of streams, forest and towering danxian rock formations.
Origin of name
In 1928, the Mineral scientist
Jinglan Feng Noticed the widespread distribution of the red gluten layer.
Jinglan Feng realized that this is a brand new landform and haven't been named. He decided to name it as DanXia, which come from the word in the ancient Chinese poem of
CaoPi "
Hibiscus Pool Poetry". The name "Dan Xia" refers to "丹(vermilion)霞(sunglow)" in Chinese.
Studies
In an effort to learn more about danxia topography, a study on the geomorphology of an area in China was conducted. Mount Danxia was the focus of the research, taking Digital Elevation Matrix (DEM) based data from many watersheds and basins in the area.
Understanding the hydrology of the area can tell a lot about the nearby formations. For example, "localized erosion has enhanced deepening of existing fractures rather than lateral erosion to form deep and narrow valleys, while long-term erosion provided large and gentle watersheds."
This study used
ArcGIS
ArcGIS is a family of client, server and online geographic information system (GIS) software developed and maintained by Esri. ArcGIS was first released in 1999 and originally was released as ARC/INFO, a command line based GIS system for manipula ...
. These scientists took maps of the area and overlaid certain features they wanted to measure, such as stream length and size.
China Danxia
China Danxia, or Danxia landform of China, is a subset of the Danxia landforms which, in August 2010, entered the
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...
.
China Danxia
UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Gallery
File:China Danxia-114957.jpg, view of rock from riverbank
File:China Danxia-114961.jpg, view of rock from courtyard
File:China Danxia-114964.jpg, view of gallery set in rock
File:China Danxia-114963.jpg, view of staircase
File:China Danxia-114966.jpg, view of landscape from rock
See also
*Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park
The Zhangye National Geopark () is located in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Sunan and Linze counties within the prefecture-level city of Zhangye, in Gansu, China. It covers an area of . The site became a quasi-national geopark on April 23, 2012 ...
References
External links
*
Danxia formations
(collection of photos)
Official website of China Danxia
{{Authority control
Landforms of China