The Nanling (), also known as the Wuling (), is a major mountain range in
Southern China that separates the
Pearl River Basin
The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-al ...
from the
Yangtze Valley and serves as the dividing line between south and central subtropical zones. The main range of Nanling Mountains stretch west to east about from
Guilin and
Hezhou of the eastern
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
to
Ganzhou
Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District.
Hist ...
of the southern
Jiangxi, north to south about from
Yongzhou and
Chenzhou of the southern
Hunan to
Qingyuan and
Shaoguan of the northern
Guangdong; With its branches, the whole mountains run west to east .
There are trough basins in the Nanling, the most of the western basins in Nanling Mountains are composed of
limestone, where
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 ...
regions are located. the most of the eastern basins are made up of red
sandstone, where are
danxia landform
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 ...
areas. The Nanling are boundaries between the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi, and also the cultural boundaries, on the south of the mountains are
Lingnan culture area.
[according to the ''Ecological Protection and Construction Planning on Forest and Biodiversity Ecological Functional Areas in Nanling Mountainous Area'' (南岭山地森林及生物多样性生态功能区生态保护与建设规划) (December 2013, by the SFA)]
wenku.baidu
also se
/ref>
The Nanling is a corridor where Chinese ethnic groups migrate and also the land of national amalgamation. In the Nanling, there form trough corridors, tectonic fault basins or watersheds, where are relatively low and not difficult to climb, between the natural gorge channels and the river systems in the north and south of the Nanling are natural channels, people-to-people exchanges are easy. Since the Qin dynasty, from the Central Plains into Lingnan
Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern northe ...
(the south of the Nanling) there have been five ancient roads, which are ''YuechengLing Road''(), ''Mengzhuling Road'' (), ''Qitianling Road'' (), ''Lingling-Guiyang Path'' () and ''Dayuling Road'' (). At the same time, many tributaries of the Yangtze system and Pearl River system have also formed west to east passages.[tsingming.com](_blank)
o
aqmzzj.gov.cn
/ref>
The mountains forming the ranges are generally of moderate altitude, the highest point being the summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
of Kitten Mountain
Kitten Mountain (also ''Mao'er Mountains''; ) is a mountain located on the border between Ziyuan County and Xing'an County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) in the People's Republic of China that lies about from the prefecture-level city ...
at .
The Nanling mountains are a regional biodiversity hot spot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the co ...
for endemic species of plants, birds and amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s.
Ranges
The five mountain ranges that make up the Nanling are the:
*Yuecheng Mountains
The Yuecheng Mountains (), also known as Laoshanjie (老山界), are a mountain range that lies on the border between Hunan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, of the People's Republic of China. The range is part of the Nanling M ...
()
*Dupang Mountains
The Dupang Mountains () are series of mountains located between the middle western Guilin of Guangxi and the southwestern Yongzhou of Hunan Provinces, one of the Five Large Ranges in the Nanling Ranges. The Dupang Mountains generally runs southw ...
()
*Mengzhu Mountains
The Mengzhu Mountains (), also known as ''Mingzhu Mountains'' (名渚岭) are a group of mountain ranges located in Guangxi and Hunan Provinces, one of the Five Ranges in the Nanling Ranges. The Mengzhu Mountains generally runs northeast to south ...
()
* Qitian Mountains ()
*Dayu Mountains The Dayu Mountains () form a mountain range separating the ''Zhenshui River'' (浈水, the upper Bei River) of Pearl River System from ''Zhangshui River'' (章水, one of source streams of Gan River) of the Yangtze River System. The Dayu are a ser ...
()
The Nanling Mountains separate Central China from South China. Areas south of the ranges are tropical in climate, permitting two crops of white rice to be grown each year.
Ion adsorption clays are mined by open-pit methods in the Nanling region, and form a major source of rare earth element
The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silv ...
s in the world.Y. Kanazawa & M. Kamitani, J. Alloys Compounds 408-412, 1339 (2006).
/ref>
See also
* Haiyang Mountains The Haiyang Mountains (), in ancient times known as "''Yanghai Mountains''" () form a mountain range in the northeastern Guangxi separating West River drainage basin of the Xi River from the Xiang River drainage basin of the Yangtze River. The mount ...
* Jiuyi Mountains
The Jiuyi Mountains ( ''Jiuyi Shan'') are a mountain range in Hunan province, China. They are located in the Yongzhou, Ningyuan County, Ningyuan and Lanshan County, Lanshan region, bordering Guangdong province.
They are part of the Mengzhu Mountai ...
* 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 ...
References
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of China
Geography of Central China
Geography of South China
Mountain ranges of Hunan
Mountains of Guangdong
Landforms of Guangxi
Mining communities in China
