Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of China

Geology and geological history

The geological history of the Tibetan Plateau is closely related to that of the Himalayas. The Himalayas belong to the Alpine orogeny and are among the younger mountain ranges on the planet, consisting mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.

India began drifting northward from Gondwana in the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago (Mya), moving at about 15 cm (6 in) per year; its collision with the Eurasian plate is most commonly dated to around 55–50 Mya, near the Paleocene–Eocene boundary, though the exact timing remains debated.

Human history

Archaic Denisovans lived on the plateau from around 200,000 to 40,000 years ago, according to a study published in Nature. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest human occupation of the plateau occurred between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Since the plateau's earliest settlement, Tibetan culture has adapted and flourished in the western, southern, and eastern regions. The Changtang is generally too high and cold to support permanent population. The Tibetan Empire existed from the 7th century to the 9th century AD. Nomadic pastoralism, once practiced widely across Asia and Africa, has persisted among these communities on the plateau. Pastoral nomads constitute about 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population.

Description

The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by the massive mountain ranges of high-mountain Asia. The plateau is bordered to the south by the inner Himalayan range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains which separate it from the Tarim Basin, and to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, which separate it from the Hexi Corridor and Gobi Desert. To the east and southeast are the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers in northwest Yunnan, western Sichuan, and southwest Qinghai. In the west, the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir curves around the plateau's edge. The Indus River originates in the western Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar.

Geography

The Gobi measures 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from southwest to northeast and 800 km (500 mi) from north to south. The desert is widest in the west, along the line joining the Lake Bosten and the Lop Nor (87°–89° east). Its area is approximately 1,295,000 square kilometres (500,000 sq mi).

Gobi includes the long stretch of desert extending from the foot of the Pamirs (77° east) to the Greater Khingan Mountains, 116–118° east, on the border of Manchuria; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan, and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun, Altyn-Tagh, and Qilian mountain ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau, on the south.

Climate

The Gobi is overall a cold desert, with frost and occasionally snow occurring on its dunes. Besides being quite far north, it is also located on a plateau roughly 910–1,520 m (2,990–4,990 ft) above sea level, which contributes to its low temperatures. An average of about 194 mm (7.6 in) of rain falls annually in the Gobi. Additional moisture reaches parts of the Gobi in winter as snow is blown by the wind from the Siberian Steppes. These winds may cause the Gobi to reach −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter to 45 °C (113 °F) in summer.

However, the climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, with rapid changes of temperature of as much as 35 °C (63 °F) in 24-hour spans.

In southern Mongolia, the temperature has been recorded as low as −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F).

Conservation, ecology, and economy

The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossil finds, including the first dinosaur eggs, twenty-six of which, averaging 23 centimetres (9 in) in length, were uncovered in 1923.

Archeologists and paleontologists have done excavations in the Nemegt Basin in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert (in Mongolia), which is noted for its fossil treasures, including early mammals, dinosaur eggs, and prehistoric stone implements, some 100,000 years old.

Despite the harsh conditions, these deserts and the surrounding regions sustain many animal species. Some are even unique, including black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, wild Bactrian camels, Mongolian wild ass and sandplovers. They are occasionally visited by snow leopards, Gobi bears, and wolves.

History

There is little information about early habitation of the Gobi desert.

Lisa Janz has proposed a system of nomenclature for early Gobi desert habitation. They are Oasis I, Oasis II, Oasis III.

honeycomb imprinted, corded, string paddled, low and high fired pottery with a sand and gravel mixture.

Starting around 8000 cal BP there was a warm wet phase in the Gobi desert.By 7500 cal BP lake levels in the Western Gobi reached their peak. Around this time there was meadow steppe vegetation around lakes. In Ulaan Nuur there may have been shrubby riparian woodlands.

Climate change

As climate change increases the Earth's average temperature, and has a disproportionate effect on extreme temperatures, it will also increase heat stress felt in areas that are already hot and/or with high humidity. The North China Plain is expected to be highly affected, as the region's extensive irrigation networks result in unusually moist air. In scenarios without aggressive action to stop climate change, the worst heatwaves are projected to become severe enough to cause mass mortality in agricultural labourers working outdoors. Under the most extreme climate change scenario, the warming reached by 2100 would be sufficient to cause such heatwaves across the North China Plain approximately once per decade.

Geography and relation to Xinjiang

Xinjiang consists of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names, Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr), until it was merged into the Chinese Province of Xinjiang in 1884. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe-dwelling, nomadic Mongolic Buddhist Dzungars, while the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) was inhabited by sedentary, oasis-dwelling, Turkic-speaking Uyghur Muslim peasants. Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin were each governed separately until the creation of Xinjiang province.

The Chinese called this the Tien Shan Nan Lu or Tien Shan South Road, as opposed to the Bei Lu north of the mountains. Along it runs the modern highway and railroad while the middle Tarim River is about 100 km south.

Geology

The Tarim Basin is the result of an amalgamation between an ancient microcontinent and the growing Eurasian continent during the Carboniferous to Permian periods, a process which ended in the earliest Triassic with the closure of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean. At present, deformation around the margins of the basin is resulting in the microcontinental crust being pushed under Tian Shan to the north, and Kunlun Shan to the south.

A thick succession of Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks occupy the central parts of the basin, locally exceeding thicknesses of 15 km (9 mi). The source rocks of oil and gas tend to be mostly Permian mudstones and, less often, Ordovician strata which experienced an intense and widespread early Hercynian karstification.

History

It is speculated that the Tarim Basin may be one of the last places in Asia to have become inhabited: It is surrounded by mountains and irrigation technologies might have been necessary.

The Northern Silk Road on one route bypassed the Tarim Basin north of the Tian Shan mountains and traversed it on three oases-dependent routes: one north of the Taklamakan Desert, one south, and a middle one connecting both through the Lop Nur region.

The northern Tarim route ran from Kashgar via Aksu, Kucha, Korla, through the Iron Gate Pass, then Karasahr, Jiaohe, Turpan, Gaochang and Kumul to Anxi.

The southern Tarim route ran from Kashgar through Yarkant, Karghalik, Pishan, Khotan, Keriya, Niya, Qarqan, Qarkilik, Miran and Dunhuang to Anxi.

Geography

The Tian Shan range is located north and west of the Taklamakan Desert and directly north of the Tarim Basin. It straddles the border regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in Northwest China. To the south, it connects with the Pamir Mountains, while to north and east, it meets the Altai Mountains of Mongolia.

The Tian Shan range extends eastwards for approximately 2,900 kilometers from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It forms part of the Himalayan orogenic belt, resulting from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates during the Cenozoic era. The range encompasses the Bogda Shan in the east, as defined by both Western and Chinese cartography.

The Tian Shan's highest peak is Jengish Chokusu (also known as Victory Peak), shared by Kyrgyzstan and China.

Ecology

The Tian Shan holds important forests of Schrenk's spruce (Picea schrenkiana) at altitudes of over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft); the lower slopes have unique natural forests of wild walnuts and apples.

The Tian Shan in its immediate geological past was kept from glaciation due to the "protecting" warm influence of the Indian Ocean monsoon climate. This defined its ecological features which could sustain its distinctive ecosphere. The mountains were subjected to constant geological changes with constantly evolving drainage systems which affected the patterns of vegetation, as well as exposing fertile soil for newly emerging seedlings to thrive in.

Tulips originated in the Tian Shan Mountains. The plant then made its way to Turkey via the Silk Road and became a symbol of the Ottoman Empire.

Geography

The Altai Mountains are a system of remote mountains in central Asia that cover an area of 845,000 km2 (326,000 sq mi). The mountains stretch for 2,525 km (1,569 mi) from northwest to southeast.

In the north of the region is the Sailughem Mountains, also known as Kolyvan Altai, which stretch northeast from 49° N and 86° E towards the western extremity of the Sayan Mountains in 51° 60' N and 89° E. Their mean elevation is 1,500–1,750 m (4,920–5,740 ft). The snow-line runs at 2,000 m (6,600 ft) on the northern side and at 2,400 m (7,900 ft) on the southern, and above it the peaks rise some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) higher.

Geology

The Siberian Altai represents the northernmost region affected by the tectonic collision of India into Asia. Extensive fault systems run through the area, including the Kurai fault zone and the recently identified Tashanta fault zone. These fault systems are typically thrusts or right lateral strike-slip faults, some of which are tectonically active. Rock types in the mountains are typically granites and metamorphic schists, and some are highly sheared near to fault zones.

Geologist Victor R. Baker "has discovered past cataclysmic floods in the Altai Mountains of Siberia" from "an even larger glacial lake" than Lake Missoula, which was once thought to have been "the largest ice-dammed lake in the world".

History

The Altai mountains have retained a remarkably stable climate, changing little since the last ice age. In addition the mix of mammals has remained largely the same, with a few exceptions such as extinct mammoths, making it one of the few places on Earth to retain an ice age fauna. Genetic analysis in 2026 also determined that the Altai region served as a likely primary refugium for the woolly rhinoceros, which had originated during the Penultimate Glacial Period, during the warmer period of the Last Interglacial.

The Altai mountains were home to the Denisovan branch of hominids who were contemporaries of Neanderthals and of Homo sapiens (modern humans), descended from Hominids who reached Asia earlier than modern humans.

Geography

Under the strictest definition, the Yungui Plateau stretches from the Red River Fault in Yunnan in the southwest to the Wuling Mountains in Hunan in the northeast. This plateau region includes most of eastern Yunnan and most of Guizhou. It is common, however, for much of the rest of Yunnan and surrounding highland areas to be referred to as part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau even where there are no plateau-like characteristics.

Under the broader definition of the Yungui Plateau, the provinces would include not only Yunnan and Guizhou but also Gulin County and the southernmost extremes of Sichuan, eastern Chongqing, southwestern Hubei, western Hunan, and northwestern Guangxi.

Located in Southwest China, the Yungui Plateau separates the Sichuan Basin from South China.

Climate and ecology

The climate gradually transitions from drier in the southwest to rainier in the northeast. In east-central Yunnan, parts of the Yungui Plateau experience a semi-arid climate. In most of Guizhou, the climate is classified as humid subtropical. The Yungui Plateau is covered by subtropical evergreen forests for much of its Yunnan portions and by mixed broadleaf forests for the Guizhou portions.

Geography

The Northeast Plain is bounded in the west by the Greater Khingan Range and northern/eastern branches of the Yan Mountains, in the northeast by the Lesser Khingan Range (which separates it from the Zeya–Bureya plains in the Russian Amur Oblast), in the east/southeast by branches of Changbai Mountains (e.g. the Zhangguangcai Range and Qian Mountains, which separates it from the Sanjiang Plain to the northeast) and in the south by the Liaodong Bay of the Bohai Sea. It has a mostly flat topography with an average elevation lower than 200 m (660 ft), and less than 100 m (330 ft) in the southern coastal regions.

History

The Northeast Plain was inhabited by Sushen ethnic groups, who were tribute payers to the Zhou dynasty. The southern Liaohe Plain of the plain was conquered by General Qin Kai of the Yan state in 300 BC, while the northern parts remained sparsely populated by various semi-agrarian/hunter-gatherer peoples collectively known as the Dongyi. After Qin dynasty's unification of China in 221 BC, the southern plains were divided into the commanderies of Liaoxi] and Liaodong, named for their relative positions to a large, untraversable wetland called Liao Mire (simplified Chinese: 辽泽; traditional Chinese: 遼澤; pinyin: Liáo Zé) that existed until the 19th century.

Geography

The average elevation of the Mongolian Plateau ranges from 915 to 1,525 meters (3,002 to 5,003 ft) above sea level. The highest point in the plateau is found in Tavan Bogd at 4,374 meters (14,350 ft) above sea level.

Ecology

The ecology of Mongolia is complex, having varying regions of highland and lowland areas. Grazing species such as yaks, Przewalski's horses, domesticated sheep, saiga antelope, Siberian ibex and Argali are common. Predator species include the Eurasian lynx, snow leopards, Corsac foxes as well as carnivorous birds such as the bearded vulture, saker falcon, and the cinereous vulture. Marmots are common throughout the region including the Tarbagan marmot with large parts of its range located in the Mongolian plateau.

History

The plateau was inhabited and conquered by various groups, including (chronologically) the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Göktürks, Tang dynasty, Liao dynasty, Mongol Empire, Yuan dynasty, Northern Yuan dynasty, and Qing dynasty.

Geography

The range extends 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) from north to south. It is the watershed between the Nen and Songhua river systems to the east, and the Amur and its tributaries to the northwest. Cassiterite, a tin ore mined in the range was transported over 1,500 km to the south during the Middle Shang period for bronze production.

Geography

The Taklamakan Desert has an area of 337,000 km2 (130,000 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Germany. The desert is part of the Tarim Basin, which is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road, by which travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland. It ranks 15th in size in a ranking of the world's largest deserts. Dunes range in height from 60 feet (18 m) up to as much as 300 feet (91 m). The few breaks in this sea of sand are small patches of alluvial clay. Generally, the steeper sides of the dunes face away from the prevailing winds. The Taklamakan, as with all of Outer China, is a land of extremes, with hot summers and cold winters. Sandstorms are likely and dangerous.

Climate

Because it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, the Taklamakan has a cold desert climate. Given its relative proximity with the cold to frigid air masses in Siberia, extreme temperatures are recorded in wintertime, sometimes well below −20 °C (−4 °F), while in summer they can rise up to 40 °C (104 °F). During the 2008 Chinese winter storms episode, the Taklamakan was reported to be covered, for the first time in its recorded history, entirely with a thin layer of snow, reaching 4 centimetres (1.6 in), with a temperature of −26.1 °C (−15 °F) in some observatories.

Its extreme inland position, effectively at the very center of Asia, and thousands of kilometres from any open body of water, accounts for its somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation.

Geology

There are three main types of morphology in the Loess Plateau. They are loess platform, loess ridges, and loess hills. Loess tableland is flat and with many loess strata. It is mostly located at south Loess Plateau. Loess ridges are formed by erosion and are located at the central Loess Plateau. Loess Hills are conical dunes and are located at the north Loess Plateau. The geomorphology of the Loess Plateau is formed by the erosion and deposition of loess.

In the Loess Plateau, the geomorphology usually changes from rocky mountains to Alluvial plain at piedmont to river valley belt. This pattern keeps repeating from the Northwest to the Southeast of the Loess Plateau.

The height of the rocky mountains is much higher than the loess deposit.

Climate and environment

The population of the Loess Plateau has been increasing since the 1600s. In 2000, the population has increased to 104 million. The rapid population growth has brought some environmental problems to Loess Plateau. For instance, deforestation. People clear the forest to get more land for agriculture activities and use the wood for fuel and building materials. This is the reason why the forest cover has decreased dramatically. There are more and more abnormal and extreme natural hazards in the Loess Plateau. This may be related to the climate and environmental changes.

Different natural hazards connected with the Loess Plateau include dust storms, floods and droughts, locust swarms and landslides.

The number of dust storm events is increasing and they have become stronger.

Geography

As noted above, the Mu Us Desert forms part of Ordos Plateau and includes part of the Loess Plateau alluvial plain with a concave floor. Exposed sands in the area come from Cretaceous red and grey sandstone. Quaternary sediments include a variety of sand types which are easily moved by the wind. In the south of the Great Wall (see below), sand dunes become more frequent due to damaged vegetation caused mostly by moving sand. Groundwater is present at relatively shallow depth of between 1 and 3 meter below ground level in area between dunes.

The annual mean temperature is between 6.0 and 8.5 °C. The mean annual precipitation is between 250 and 400 mm, of which the majority falls in summer.

History

Research in the Salawusu River Area in 1978 delineated the strata of the Salawusu River in the area of the Mu Us Desert. This suggests that the prehistoric climate was mild and wet with numerous rivers and lakes, yet limited plant life and wildlife in the early stage of the Late Pleistocene age. The climate became dry and cold while eolian sand began to accumulate in the later stage of the Late Pleistocene age. The climate changed again to mild and wet early in the Holocene Epoch as lakes with marsh sediments formed. Later, the climate changed back to dry and cold, allowing a semi-arid steppe landscape to form. These climatic fluctuations were caused by the glacial and interglacial periods of the Northern Hemisphere.

Geography

The Sichuan Basin is an expansive 229,500 km2 (88,600 mi2) lowland region in China that is surrounded by upland regions and mountains. Much of the basin is covered in hilly terrain. The basin covers the eastern third of Sichuan Province and the western half of Chongqing Municipality.

The westernmost section of the Sichuan Basin is the Chengdu Plain, occupied by Chengdu, provincial capital of Sichuan. The Chengdu Plain is largely alluvial, formed by the Min River and other rivers fanning out when entering the basin from the northwest. This flat region is separated from the rest of the basin by the Longquan Mountains. The central portions of the Sichuan Basin are generally rolling, covered by low hills, eroded remnants of the uplifted Sichuan Basin floor.

Geology

The Sichuan Basin forms the rigid northwest edge of the Yangtze tectonic plate. The Yangtze Plate's complex relationship with the surrounding Eurasian Plate is evidenced at its margins. Orogeny formed by the Indian Plate's collision with Eurasia has compressed against the Sichuan Basin's western edge, most notably along the Longmenshan Fault, the epicenter of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. The basin's rigidity withstands much of the Tibetan Plateau's eastern movement, but dramatic folds have formed within the Yangtze Plate along the Sichuan Basin's eastern edges. Here, ancient faults interact with the Daba Mountains, themselves a result of pressure between the Yangtze and Eurasian Plates in a perpendicular direction.

Until 6 million years ago, a large lake filled the Sichuan Basin.

Geography

The three highest mountains in the Pamirs core are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932 to 1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962 to 1998 as Communism Peak), 7,495 m (24,590 ft); Ibn Sina Peak (still officially known as Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan), 7,134 m (23,406 ft); and Peak Korzhenevskaya (Russian: Пик Корженевская, Pik Korzhenevskoi), 7,105 m (23,310 ft). In the Eastern Pamirs, China's Kongur Tagh is the highest at 7,649 m (25,095 ft).

Remark: The summits of the Kongur and Muztagata Group are in some sources counted as part of the Kunlun, which would make Peak Ismoil Somoni the highest summit of the Pamir.

There are many glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, including the 77 km (48 mi) long Vanch-Yakh Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the polar regions.

Tourism

In December 2009, the New York Times featured articles on the possibilities for tourism in the Pamir area of Tajikistan. 2013 proved to be the most successful year ever for tourism in the region and tourism development continues to be the fastest growing economic sector.

Geography

In China, the Khingan mountains are divided into the Greater Khingan and Lesser Khingan. The Lesser Khingan range runs roughly from the northwest to the southeast and separates the valley of the Amur (Heilongjiang) River from that of the Nenjiang River. The mountain range then turns toward the east and north-east, entering Russia. The Amur/Heilongjiang, which is a border river, forms a gorge when crossing the mountain range.

History

185 rebels of the Yellow Turban are defeated by the imperial army, but only two months later, the rebellion breaks out again. It spreads to the Taihang Mountains on the western border of Hebei Province.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Taihang Mountains were the site of a successful ambush against Japanese troops by the Eighth Route Army in Huangtuling.

Background

The Taihang Mountains were formed during the Jurassic. Brown forest and Cinnamon soils are found here.

The name of Shanxi Province, meaning "west of the mountains", derives from its location west of the Taihang Mountains. The name of Shandong Province (east of the mountains) originally applied to the area east of the Xiao Mountains, but by the Tang dynasty it refers to the area east of the Taihang Mountains; this entity evolved into the modern-day Shandong Province, though the actual border of the province has moved considerably to the east.

The Hai River system runs through the Taihang Mountains. The Red Flag Canal is located on the south edge of the Taihang Mountains.

Geography

Orographically, the Qaidam Basin is a comparatively low area in the northeastern part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. With an elevation of around 3,000 m (10,000 ft), Qaidam forms a kind of shelf between Tibet to the south (around 4,300 m or 14,000 ft) and Gansu to the north (around 1,100 m or 3,500 ft). A low water divide separates the Qaidam Basin proper from that of Qinghai Lake to the east. Despite this lower elevation, Qaidam is still high enough that its mean annual temperature is 2–4 °C (36–39 °F) despite lying on the same latitude as Algeria, Greece, and Virginia in the United States.

The crescent-shaped basin covers an area of approximately 120,000 km2 (46,000 sq mi).

Geological history

Qaidam was part of the North China Craton from at least 1 billion years ago, before breaking off c. 560 million years ago at the end of the Neoproterozoic. It was an island in a shallow sea until uplift beginning around 400 Ma finally rejoined it to the mainland by 200 Ma.

Three-dimensional modeling shows that the present basin has been squeezed to an irregular diamond shape since the beginning of the Cenozoic, with the Indian Plate beginning to impact the ancient Tibetan shoreline somewhere between 55–35 Ma. At first, Qaidam was at a far lower elevation. Pollen found in core samples shows that the Oligocene (34–23 Ma) was relatively humid. A great lake slowly formed in the western basin, which two major tectonic movements raised and cut off from its original sources of sediment.

Geology

In Precambrian section was made up of felsic-intermediate granite with the inclusion of greenstones and ophiolites, where the Paleozoic section consists of mainly potassium- and sodium-deficient extrusive rocks. The basalts in the basement which indicated trapped late Paleozoic oceanic crust that came from the mantle.

The sedimentary facies started to be dominant in Permian. The layers continuously deposited fluvial and lacustrine facies until the present day, mostly containing conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone.

Human history and culture

Human settlement on the slopes of Mount Wuyi can be traced back 4,000 years by archeological remains. During the Western Han dynasty, the ancient city of Chengcun was the capital of the Minyue kingdom. In the 7th century, the Wuyi Palace was built for emperors to conduct sacrificial activities, a site that tourists can still visit today. The mountains were an important center of Taoism and later Buddhism. Remains of 35 academies erected from the era of the Northern Song to the Qing dynasty and more than 60 Taoist temples and monasteries have been located. However, most of these remains are very incomplete.

Description

The mountains have been listed since 1999 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for cultural, scenic, and biodiversity values.

The site has a total area of 99,975 hectares that is divided into four core parts. Three are ecological: the Nine-bend Stream Ecological Protection Area (36,400 ha) in the centre, flanked by the Wuyishan National Nature Reserve (56,527 ha) to the west and the Wuyishan National Scenic Area (7,000 ha) to the east. The fourth, a cultural preservation area, is the Protection Area for the Remains of the Ancient Han Dynasty (48 ha), about 15 km to the southeast of the others. These core parts are surrounded by an additional buffer zone of 27,888 ha.

Geology

Geologically, the Dabie Mountains are characterized by the occurrence of eclogite-facies ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks. Geographically, the range is a complex, stressed structure, making it and the surrounding area subject to earthquakes. In late 2005, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake centered in the northwest corner of Jiangxi province, just south of Jiujiang on the Yangtze killed at least 15 people, injured hundreds, and left several thousand people homeless. It caused tremors in Qichun County in Hubei province and beyond, even reaching as far as the provincial capital of Wuhan.

Geography

The waters bordering the peninsula are Laizhou Bay to the northwest, which opens into the Bohai Sea to the north, which in turn passes through the Bohai Strait to the northeast into the Yellow Sea to the east and south. The peninsula's territory comprises three prefecture-level cities of Shandong: Qingdao in the southwest, Yantai in the north and centre, and Weihai at the eastern tip.

The Shandong Peninsula is the largest peninsula in China. Stretching into the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, it is 290 kilometers long from east to west, 190 kilometers wide from north to south, and 50 kilometers narrow. The total area of Shandong Peninsula is 73,000 square kilometers.

Climate

Shandong Peninsula is surrounded by sea on three sides and has a monsoon climate with four distinct seasons (Köppen: Cwa/Dwa). Due to maritime influence, the climate is relatively mild, in both summer and winter.

History

In the Paleolithic, the Shandong Peninsula area was covered by forest. In the Neolithic, about 7,000 years ago, a large number of Dongyi people inhabited the peninsula. The Dongyi had their own kingdom called the State of Lai. The peninsula later belonged to the State of Qi. The Qi built the Great Wall of Qi, which is partially on the peninsula. During the Han dynasty, the peninsula belonged to the semi-independent feudatory Jiaodong Kingdom.

During the late 19th Century, the Shandong Peninsula served as a base for the Beiyang Fleet. During the First Sino-Japanese War, the port of Weihaiwei was captured by Japan after a 23 day siege.

During the Scramble for China, the German Empire annexed the Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory from 1898 to 1914.

Economy

Shandong Peninsula is the most developed region of the province, and one of the most affluent region in China. As early as the Spring and Autumn period in the 8th century BC, the fishing and salt industries had gradually emerged. During the Warring States period, the iron smelting industry and silk-hemp textile production had already reached a high level. In the Han dynasty, the region became known as the "granary of the East." In the Tang dynasty, Dengzhou and Laizhou were important ports for foreign trade. During the Ming and Qing periods, Jiaozhou was the largest trading port in northern China. After the Opium Wars, the economy developed abnormally, and Qingdao and Weihai were successively occupied by Germany and Britain.

Geography

The Liaodong Peninsula lies on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, dividing the Liaodong Bay (the largest of the three bays of the Bohai Sea) to its west from the Korea Bay to its east. It forms the southern part of a mountain belt that continues northward in the Changbai Mountains. The part of the mountain range on the peninsula is known as the Qianshan Mountains, named after Qian Mountain in Anshan, which includes Dahei Mountain in Dalian.

History

The Liaodong region was settled since prehistoric times by Neolithic people such as Xinle culture. It later came under the rule of the Gojoseon kingdom, which encompassed the northern Korean Peninsula and the region southeast of the Liao River. In the late 4th century BC, the expanding Chinese State of Yan conquered this region from Gojoseon, and established the Liaodong Commandery.

After the fall of the Yan state, the region was taken over by the short-lived Qin dynasty, and then its prominent successor Han dynasty. After the Han dynasty fragmented at the turn of the 3rd century, the region changed hands between various warlord states such as the Gongsun clan, the nomadic Wuhuan tribe, and finally Cao Wei, before eventually falling under the reunified Western Jin dynasty.

Geography and key features

The Himalayas consists of four parallel mountain ranges from south to north: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north. The Karakoram are generally considered separate from the Himalayas.

In the middle of the great curve of the Himalayan mountains lie the 8,000 m (26,000-foot) peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in Nepal, separated by the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The gorge splits the Himalayas into Western and Eastern sections, both ecologically and orographically – the pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki, the Kora La, is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2 (the highest peak of the Karakoram range).

Geology

Tectonics, the recurring physical changes that affect the arrangement of the Earth's crust, and plate tectonics, the movement of large regions of the Earth's crust in the manner of planar rigid bodies, are key to understanding the formation of the Himalayas. The Earth's crust rests directly on its mantle. Tectonic plates, comprising the crust and the upper portions of their underlying mantle, are moved around by convection in the asthenosphere. The oceanic crust, found beneath oceans, is, on average, seven kilometres (4.3 mi) thick. It is created from upwelling magma at mid-ocean ridges and predominantly consists of basalt, the principal igneous rock on Earth.

Climate

The physical factors determining the climate in any location in the Himalayas include latitude, altitude, and the relative motion of the Southwest monsoon. From north to south, the mountains cover more than eight degrees of latitude, spanning temperate to subtropical zones. The colder air of Central Asia is prevented from blowing down into South Asia by the physical configuration of the Himalayas. This causes the tropical zone to extend farther north in South Asia than anywhere else in the world. The evidence is unmistakable in the Brahmaputra valley as the warm air from the Bay of Bengal bottlenecks and rushes up past Namcha Barwa, the eastern anchor of the Himalayas, and into southeastern Tibet.

Ecology

The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions, combined with the very high snow line, supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure), combined with extreme cold, favor extremophile organisms.

At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator.

Geography

The Leizhou Peninsula is the third largest peninsula in China with an area of c. 8,500 square kilometers (3,300 sq mi) located on the southwestern end of Zhanjiang, Guangdong with the Gulf of Tonkin to the west and the 30 km wide Qiongzhou Strait to the south, separating the peninsula from Hainan Island.

Geologically, basalt terraces account for 43% of the peninsula's area. The rest is divided up between marine terraces (27%) and alluvial plains (17%). Leizhou Peninsula is dotted with a few dormant volcanoes, beaches, and low-lying diluvial plains.

Climate

The peninsula has a humid subtropical climate. The region is under the influence of continental northeastern monsoons and maritime southeastern and southwestern monsoons. Typhoons occasionally occur, both from the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Annual precipitation is 1,400 to 1,700 millimeters (55 to 67 in).

Geography

The Hexi Corridor encompasses much of northwestern Gansu province, and is located on the west side of the Yellow River as it runs north around the Ordos Loop (hence the name Hexi, meaning 'west of the river'). The corridor stretches roughly 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from the Wushao Mountains in the east to Yumen Pass in the west, 100–200 kilometres (60–100 mi) from north to south, ranges from 40–100 kilometres (20–60 mi) in width, and covers an area of approximately 276,000 square kilometres (107,000 mi2) or around 60% of the area of Gansu Province. Its population was 4.82 million people in 2011, representing around 19% of the province's total population.

Geology

The Hexi Corridor is a Cenozoic foreland basin formed over millions of years by the uplift, crustal shortening, and northward advance of the Tibetan Plateau, a landform of which the Hexi Corridor forms the northeastern margin. The region is seismically active, having experienced five earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater since 180 AD, and is dominated by northwest-trending reverse faults. It is internally divided by three uplifts into four depressions filled with thick fluvial and lacustrine sediment deposited during the Quaternary era.

The area of the present-day Hexi Corridor was successively part of various foreland and strike-slip basins throughout the Paleozoic and early to mid-Mesozoic.

Climate

The dominant climate types in the Hexi Corridor are temperate semi-arid (Köppen: BSk) and temperate arid (Köppen: BWk). The region experiences an average annual temperature of 4–10 °C (39–50 °F) and an average annual precipitation of less than 200 mm (7.9 in) which generally decreases from southwest to northeast. The climate in the Hexi Corridor is heavily influenced by its location at the intersection of a humid zone in the east dominated by the East Asian monsoon and an arid zone in the west dominated by the westerlies, and has varied over thousands to millions of years as a result of Milankovitch cycles.

Climate fluctuations in the Hexi Corridor have historically played a dominant role in shaping human settlement and interaction in the region.

Ecology

The Hexi Corridor spans three ecoregions, with most of its area lying within the Alashan Plateau semi-desert, while its southern portion extends into the Qilian Mountains subalpine meadows and the Qilian Mountains conifer forests. The region contains 11 provincial-level and 10 national-level nature reserves which collectively occupy 28% of the corridor's land area, including three Ramsar-listed wetlands.

The distribution of habitats across the Hexi Corridor broadly follows a north–south gradient determined by precipitation patterns and the position of the Qilian Mountains, the primary source of water in the corridor.