In Renhua County, northeast of Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, there is a rare red stone park. The locals vividly call it China Red Stone Park. However, another name of this red stone park may be more widely known, and that is Danxia Mountain, because this is the place where the Danxia landform is named.
Danxia Mountain is mainly divided into three tourist areas, namely Yuanyang Mountain Scenic Area, Elder Peak Scenic Area and Bazhai Scenic Area. The current development area is only 12 square kilometers. However, this is only Danxia Mountain in a narrow sense. Danxia Mountain in a broad sense includes the 290-square-kilometer Danxia Mountain Area composed of red rocks in Renhua County. It is the largest scenic spot in Guangdong Province and one of the four famous mountains in Guangdong Province.
Looking down from a high altitude with a drone, the entire Danxia Mountain is crisscrossed with ravines, presenting a rare red-layer peak forest structure, with both towering and precipitous cliffs and low, dense ravines. , the levels are changeable. Tourists standing in the canyon are as tiny as a speck of dust, and people can't help but sigh at the magnificence of nature.
Danxia Mountain is a scenic spot dominated by Danxia landforms. It is also known as the first strange mountain in Lingnan. There are more than 680 large and small stone pillars, stone walls, and stone peaks in the scenic area. It is the most fully developed, most typical, and richest representative of Danxia landforms in the world. It is also a window for the world to study Danxia landforms.
Looking from afar, these rolling mountain peaks are stacked on top of each other, like majestic pagodas, towering city walls, and closed castles. Their shapes are weird and colorful, as if they were artificially carved. Many tourists couldn't help but marvel.
In fact, Danxia landforms are not widely distributed on the earth, and are mainly concentrated in China, the western United States, Australia and other places. In the late 1920s, when Chinese geologists were conducting geological surveys in northern Guangdong, they gave a vivid description of Danxia for the first time: "It is deep and solid. After erosion, the cliffs are as straight as a man-made solid and majestic fortress." However, As a new landform, many people at that time lacked basic understanding of this type of landform.
In the decades since the discovery of the Danxia landform, geologists have conducted intermittent research on Danxia, ??and there has never been a unified answer. However, the academic name of the Danxia layer (red gravel layer) has been used.
Later, Chinese geologists discussed the distribution, rock characteristics and landform development forms of the Danxia layer in the book "China's Physical Geography and Landforms", and made a systematic study of the main Danxia landforms in southern my country. Summary of sex.
The First National Danxia Landform Tourism Development Academic Symposium held in Danxia Mountain in Guangdong promoted Danxia landform to the whole country in one fell swoop, and led to extensive investigations and research on Danxia landform by scholars from all over the country. However, in terms of international geography, Danxia landform is still a new subject, and the research field is blank.
It was not until 2009 that the first international academic symposium on Danxia landforms was held after China's Danxia was declared a World Heritage Site. The "Danxia Declaration" was adopted at this meeting, and the international organizing committee recognized the research and contributions of Chinese scholars on this rare topography.
At that time, the term "Danxia" was only a term used by Chinese geologists. After the seminar, the International Geomorphological Association established a Danxia Working Group and recognized the name Danxia landform. Danxia Mountain, the place where the Danxia landform is named, naturally became one of the first batch of Danxia Geoparks in the world, starting the journey of China's Danxia to the world. As a result, similar geographical landforms around the world are named after the "Danxia" of Danxia Mountain in Guangdong.
“Colored like Wodan and brilliant like bright clouds” is the first intuitive impression that Danxia Mountain gives people. Even after tens of millions of years of wind and rain, the cliffs can still be seen with the naked eye as brilliant as the sunset. These red gravel rock layers were not created in a day, but are natural miracles carved by the uncanny workmanship of nature over tens of millions of years.
During the Cretaceous period, 70,000 to 90,000 years ago, the terrain where Danxia Mountain is located was a large inland basin. Affected by the geological movements of the Himalayas, the basin was fractured and differentiated, gradually forming an uneven basin. mountains. The original land and lake beds were lifted up to form peaks and cliffs.
Under the erosion of natural weathering and running water, these peaks and cliffs were further carved, forming all kinds of strange rock cliffs, differentiated into columns, walls, castles, etc.
The most famous Dianyang Yuan stone in Danxia Mountain is the columnar Danxia. Because its shape resembles an adult male's genitals, it has become popular on the Internet. Many people have traveled thousands of miles to "check in" and pray that they can regain their glory and have children like the Yuanyang Stone.
The peaks of Danxia Mountain all have a distinctive feature. Most of them have gentle slope tops and sloping slopes, making it difficult to climb at the foot of the mountain. The most representative one is the foothills of Yuanyang Mountain. The artificially carved steps are almost vertical and the landing places are narrow and short. Although guardrails and iron cables are installed in the scenic area, you still need to use both hands and feet to climb up. Extremely dangerous and challenging. If the whole family is visiting Yuanyang Mountain, it is recommended to go up and down from the direction of Ximeizhai.
After climbing to the top of the mountain, looking from a distance, the mountains and valleys in the scenic area are intertwined. The gentle slopes of the soil are covered with natural secondary forests, intertwined with vines, and green trees everywhere. Feeling relaxed and happy, there is quite a grand momentum of "being at the top of the mountain and seeing all the small mountains at a glance".