Three parallel rivers scenic spot

Three parallel rivers refer to the Nujiang River, Jinsha River (the upper reaches of the Yangtze River) and Lancang River (the upper reaches of the Mekong River) which originate from the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. These three rivers run parallel for hundreds of kilometers in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Northwest Yunnan Province of China, passing through the deep canyons in the high Yunling, Nushan and Gaoligong Mountains of Hengduan Mountains. It is the largest world heritage site in China.

Three Parallel Rivers

synonym

Three parallel rivers scenic area generally refers to three parallel rivers

The parallel flow of three rivers refers to the Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River, which originate from the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. They run more than 170 kilometers from north to south in Yunnan Province, passing through the mountains such as danlika mountain, Gaoligong Mountain, Nushan mountain and Yunling mountain. The upper part of the three parallel rivers is in Southeast Tibet, and the lower part is in Yunnan Province. The formation of the world's rare "parallel flow of rivers without intersection" of the peculiar natural and geographical landscape. The shortest straight-line distance between Lancang River and Jinsha River is 66 km, while the shortest straight-line distance between Lancang River and Nujiang River is less than 19 km. The natural landscape of three parallel rivers is composed of Nujiang River, Lancang River, Jinsha River and the mountains in the basin, covering 1.7 million hectares. It includes 9 nature reserves and 10 scenic spots located in Lijiang City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. The scenic spot spans Lijiang area, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture.

In the area of three parallel rivers, 40 million years ago, the collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate triggered the rapid compression, uplift and cutting of Hengduan Mountains, and the alternate distribution of mountains and rivers, forming a unique natural spectacle of three parallel rivers running 170 kilometers in the world. In 1988, with the approval of the State Council, "Three Parallel Rivers" was designated as the second batch of national scenic spots. In July 2003, it was listed in the world heritage list according to the selection criteria of natural heritage

To build three parallel rivers Nature Reserve (mainly Yunnan three parallel rivers nature reserve).

Regional characteristics

1. Birthplace of ancient tea horse road

2. The second largest world heritage site in China

3. The most abundant geological and geomorphological Museum in the world

4. "World biological gene bank", one of the most abundant biological species in the world

5. Botanical circles call it "natural mountain garden"

6. Rare alpine landforms in the world and representative areas of their evolution

Geology and geomorphology

The "Three Parallel Rivers" region is an outstanding representative of the main stages of the earth's evolution. Rich and diverse geological relics, landscapes and geological phenomena show the world the extremely complex history of crustal evolution and ongoing geological processes.

The late Paleozoic (400 million years ago) paleontostratigraphic records in the "Three Parallel Rivers" area reflect that this area was once a part of the vast Tethys paleo ocean, consisting of ultrabasic rocks (such as ophiolite and peridotite), basic rocks (such as gabbro, diabase, Pillow Basalt, spilite, etc.) and deep-sea facies deposits (such as radiolarian silicalite) The composition of ophiolite reflects that this area was once similar to the current oceanic crust environment near the mid ocean ridge; magmatic rocks with various types and complex compositions (including volcanic rocks, hypabyssal rocks and plutonic rocks) record the scale and characteristics of magmatic activities in each period, reflecting the evolution model of different stages; metamorphic rocks, melanges, tectonic rocks and strata, rocks in this area The folds, faults, joints, cleavages and other structural deformations in the rocks, as well as the deep and large fault systems between different blocks, reflect the intense compression activities suffered here. The geological and historical processes, such as the extinction of the oceanic crust, the compression of the strata, the amalgamation of the blocks, and the fall and rise of the crust, have become clear in geologists' interpretation of numerous information: "Three Parallel Rivers" area is the place where the evolution and extinction of the Tethys Ocean, the collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate, the continental collision between the two continents, and the Himalayan uplift and the formation of the Hengduan Mountains caused by orogeny It is a typical representative area and key section of the evolution history of rock mass.

Geological relics

In the history of the earth's evolution, the ocean always opened and closed in the crustal movement. The opening of the ocean would promote the separation of the land on both sides of the ocean crust, and the closure of the ocean would drive the convergence of the land on both sides. The Tethys ocean has experienced different opening and closing processes, leaving many geological traces of strata, rocks, fossils and crustal deformation.

The closure of the Tethys ocean eventually drove the Indian plate to rush towards the Eurasian plate, which made the "Three Parallel Rivers" area evolve from oceanic deep-sea environment into oceanic island arc and multi island ocean basin environment, and then into continental environment and plateau environment. The intense compression of the two continents crushed, crumpled and metamorphosed the rocks here, and triggered large-scale magmatic activities. The continuous collisional activities have resulted in large-scale uplift and strong tectonic deformation in this area, forming a giant Hengduanshan composite orogenic belt with the tightest compression and narrowest compression in the world, which is the unique spectacle of "Three Parallel Rivers" in the world.

tectonic setting

The diverse and complex geological tectonic background has laid a foundation for the formation of various geomorphic types in the "Three Parallel Rivers" area. The high folded mountain system and fault block activities control the dynamic geological process of the surface, the erosion of rivers, and the planing of mountain glaciers. The deep Grand Canyon, glacial Valley, glacial lakes, waterfalls, horn peaks, fin ridges, peak clusters, and cliffs are carved out, creating a geological landscape area with the first-class aesthetic feeling in the world. The typical landforms of "Three Parallel Rivers" include the spectacle of "Three Parallel Rivers" composed of high mountains and valleys, glacial remains and modern glacial landforms, alpine Danxia landforms, granite peak clusters landforms, alpine karst landforms and plateaus, snow mountains, meadows, alpine glacial lakes and so on.

The complex, diverse and special geological evolution history, geological geomorphology and geographical environment control the origin of primitive biological population and the distribution characteristics of hydrothermal conditions in the "Three Parallel Rivers" area, and then control the biological evolution process, characteristics and evolution mode, forming a diverse biological and ecological landscape.

Protection value

The diverse rock types, geological structures and geomorphic landscapes of the "Three Parallel Rivers" provide typical relics for the interpretation of the important historical stages and important geological events such as the extinction of the Tethys ocean, the collision mechanism and model between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate, the formation of the intracontinental giant composite orogenic belt, and the evolution and uplift of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau It is an outstanding development area for various types of alpine landscape and evolution process. These precious and rare geological landscapes and relics are the common wealth left to mankind by nature, and have very important world significance and protection value.

This area is of great value in showing the geological history associated with the collision of Indian Ocean plate and Eurasian plate in the last 50 million years, showing the closure of ancient Mediterranean and the uplift of Himalayas and Tibet Plateau. These are major geological events for the evolution and ongoing changes of the surface of the Asian continent. The diversity of rock types in this area records this history, and the karst topography, granite giant monolith and Danxia sandstone landform in the alpine belt cover some of the best mountain types in the world.

Ecological process

The exciting ecological process in the three parallel rivers region is the common result of the influence of geology, climate and topography. Firstly, the location of the area is within the active area of crustal movement, resulting in the formation of various rock bases, from igneous rocks to various sedimentary rocks (including limestone, sandstone and conglomerate).

Excellent landform range: from Canyon to karst landform to ice peak, which is related to the fact that the region is just at the collision point of tectonic plates. Another fact is that the region is a Pleistocene conservation area of residual species, and is located in the convergence area of Biogeography (i.e. with mild climate and tropical elements), which provides a good physical basis for the evolution of high biodiversity.

In addition to the topographic diversity (with a nearly vertical gradient of 6000 meters), the monsoon climate affects the vast majority of the region, thus providing another favorable ecological factor for the development of temperate communities in the Palaearctic region.

natural resources

The "Three Parallel Rivers" area is known as the "world biological gene bank". This area accounts for less than 0.4% of China's land area, but it has more than 20% of the country's higher plants and 25% of the country's animal species.

National protected animals

There are 77 species of rare and endangered animals, such as Yunnan snub nosed monkey, antelope, snow leopard, Bengal tiger and black necked Crane

National protected plants

There are 34 species of Taiwania flousiana, alzholeng, Taxus chinensis, etc.

Diversity

Regional distribution

China and important areas in the northern hemisphere. 2 / 3 of the fauna in the nominated area belong to endemic fauna or Himalayan Hengduan type fauna. This area is thought to contain more than 25% of China's animal species, many of which are relic communities and endangered species.

Many of China's rare and endangered animals live in the nominated areas, of which 80 species are listed in the list

Chinese PinYin : San Jiang Bing Liu Feng Jing Qu