The Gyeongju Basin is a

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, ...

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, ...

city,

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until t ...

province,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It forms part of the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of the

Hyeongsan River The Hyeongsan River is a river in southeastern South Korea. It flows from Baeyanggol Valley (배양골), Wolpyeong-ri (월평리/), Dudong-myeon (두동면/), Ulju County in Ulsan to the Sea of Japan, covering a distance of about 62 km. ...

, which flows north through the basin where it is joined by the Bukcheon, Namcheon, Daecheon, and Sogyeon-cheon streams. The basin is surrounded by low

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

s, most of which are also part of Gyeongju National Park. Specifically, it is bordered by Gowi Mountain (495 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

) on the south, Seondo Mountain (380 m) and Ongnyeo Peak (215 m) on the west, and Gumi Mountain (594 m) on the north. Namsan, a mountain composed of two peaks (466 m, 495 m), cuts the Gyeongju Basin into two parts at the southern end. The streams that flow from these mountains have formed a number of interlinked

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the smal ...

s in the Basin. The city center of Gyeongju, which was also the capital of the ancient

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms o ...

kingdom, occupies much of the basin. Various watershed management projects were undertaken even during Silla times, due to continuous

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing in the basin, caused by runoff from the neighboring mountains combined with inflow from the upper Hyeongsan River watershed. The most recent severe flood took place in 1991. The basin is also home to a great number of important

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

n cultural heritage assets, mostly related to its ancient role as capital of Silla. For example, the royal

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

s of Silla are located there, as is the Gyerim

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

. The slopes of the entire Namsan Mountain are covered in religious and ceremonial sites dating from the Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500-300 B.C.) to the end of the

Korean Three Kingdoms Samhan or the Three Kingdoms of Korea () refers to the three kingdoms of Goguryeo (고구려, 高句麗), Baekje (백제, 百濟), and Silla (신라, 新羅). Goguryeo was later known as Goryeo (고려, 高麗), from which the modern name ''Kor ...

(c. AD 668). Namsan and environs is registered as a UNESCO

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 ...

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

is also undertaken on a significant scale within the basin. The crops are primary staples such as

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, and

soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

. The Gyeongju strain of rice grown here is particularly famous for its quality. However, the Gyeongju Basin has undergone significant environmental strain since the 1970s resulting the construction of tourist facilities, the expansion and industrialization of urban Gyeongju, intensive agriculture, and the construction and use of national public infrastructure such as expressways, highways, and high-speed rail.

References

*Cho, Hwa-ryong. 1987. ''Hanguk-eui Chungjeok Pyeongya'' lluvial Plains of Korea Gyohak Yeongusa, Seoul. *Kang, Bong W. 2006. Large-scale Reservoir Construction and Political Centralization: A Case Study from Ancient Korea. ''Journal of Anthropological Research'' 62(2):193-?.

External links

Paper on the historical lessons of watershed management in the Gyeongju basin, delivered in 2002 by Professor Bong W. Kang of Kyongju University
Depressions (geology)

See also

References

External links