Where is Danxia Mountain?

Danxia Mountain is located in the north of Guangdong Province, at the junction of Renhua and Qujiang counties in Shaoguan City. Danxia Mountain is known as the first wonder mountain in Lingnan. The mountain is composed of red glutenite, and various Danxia peaks developed along vertical joints are very distinctive, which is called "China Hongshi Park". This is the naming place of "Danxia Landform". In a narrow sense, Danxia Mountain is limited to the mountain blocks composed of the Elder Peak, the Conch Peak and the Treasure Mount Everest in the north, among which the Treasure Mount Everest is the highest, with an altitude of 409 meters. In a broad sense, Danxia Mountain covers an area of 2 15 square kilometers consisting of red stones.

The Danxia Mountain area belongs to a tectonic basin in the middle of Nanling Mountains in geological structure, and is called Danxia Basin in geology. About 100 million years ago, Nanling Mountain rose strongly, and it sank relatively here, forming a mountain and lake basin. The accumulation of red clastic materials began in the lake basin. Until 70 million years ago, a layer of red sedimentary basin strata with a thickness of about 3000 meters was formed in the basin. The hard glutenite with an upper thickness of 1.300m is called Danxia Formation, and the strange rocks in Danxia Mountain are developed on this Danxia Formation. Around 40-50 million years ago, with the crustal movement, the whole lake basin rose, and Jinjiang and its tributaries cut and eroded this red sedimentary rock along the cracks, and the preserved rock layer became the present Danxia Mountain Group. According to experts' research, the crust in Danxia Mountain area is still rising, with an average rise of 0.97 meters per 1 10,000 years.

The rock formations that make up Danxia Mountain are mostly horizontal, with different thickness and hardness. The rock layer composed of coarse gravel is called conglomerate, which is generally hard; The uniform thickness is called sandstone, and the thinner thickness is called conglomerate. Sandstone, especially conglomerate, is very soft. The fragile rock stratum is more prone to weathering and erosion, forming nearly horizontal grooves or caves consistent with the rock stratum, while the hard conglomerate protrudes into the cliff. Over time, the cave deepens and expands, and the overlying strata will collapse if they lose their gravity balance. So Danxia Cliff is the collapse surface of the past. If the cave is further weathered or eroded by running water and penetrates a mountain ridge or stone wall, it may be preserved under the condition that the upper rock layer is relatively complete. This is a natural bridge or hole.

1938, Professor Chen, a famous geologist in China, first put forward the term "Danxia landform" after investigating Danxia Mountain and Hongshi Mountain in southern China. Since then, Danxia landform has gradually become a proper term in geography. In particular, it is a special mountain landform composed of Mesozoic and Cenozoic red sandstone. Danxia landforms in the world are mainly distributed in China, the western United States, Australia and Central Europe, among which China is the most widely distributed. At present, more than 300 Danxia landform areas have been discovered in China, and Danxia Mountain in Guangdong has the largest scale and the best scenery. In the Danxia landform distribution area, stones are often scattered, peaks form forests, the top of the mountain is gentle and the hillside is upright; Chibi is colorful and densely covered with caves; Between the mountains are high gorges and valleys, which are quiet and deep; Rock shapes are rich and varied. Its danger is comparable to granite, and its wonders do not allow karst peak forests. Moreover, rivers often pass through Danxia landform distribution area, and Danshan and clear water complement each other, which is an important landform type that constitutes a famous scenic mountain.