Flame Mountain

Flame Mountain

Xinjiang Flame Mountain is the most famous scenic spot in Turpan. Located in the northern margin of Turpan Basin and on the North Road of the ancient Silk Road, it is mainly composed of red sand, conglomerate and mudstone of Jurassic, Cretaceous and tertiary. Local people call it "kiziltag", which means "Red Mountain".

On April 13, 2018, Huoyanshan scenic spot was shortlisted as the "magic northwest 100 scenic spots".

geographical environment

position

Huoyanshan, known as chishi mountain in ancient times, is located in the northern margin of Turpan Basin and the North Road of the ancient Silk Road. It's east-west. Huoyanshan, known as "kiziltag" in Uighur, means "Red Mountain", which was once called "Volcano" by the people of Tang Dynasty. The mountain is more than 100 kilometers long, and the widest part is 10 kilometers. It is about 500 meters above sea level, and the main peak is 831.7 meters above sea level. Huoyanshan, tongshantuling, no grass, no birds. In midsummer, when the red sun is in the sky, the reddish brown mountain is shining in the hot sun, and the hot air is rolling up, just like the flaming flame, and the tongue of fire touches the sky, so it is also called Flame Mountain.

climate

Huoyanshan is the hottest place in China, with the highest temperature of 47.8 ℃ in summer and the highest surface temperature of 89 ℃. Eggs can be roasted in sand nest. Turpan is a typical continental arid desert climate. Although the annual average temperature is only 14.5 ℃,

However, the number of days above 35 ℃ is more than 100 days, and even the extremely hot weather above 38 ℃ is more than 38 days. The absolute maximum temperature measured for many years is 49.6 ℃ (July 13, 1975), and the surface temperature can reach 89 ℃. It is a "hot pole in China". The average annual precipitation in Huozhou is only 16 mm, accounting for half of the total in summer, while the annual precipitation in tokson is only 5.9 mm. It's not surprising that there is no rain all the year round or that it doesn't rain at all.

Main attractions

Flame Mountain has Mantou mountain, ladder, thousand Buddha cave, suspension bridge, Maimaiti courtyard, Wanfoshan and other attractions.

In sharp contrast to the barren hills and barren ridges of Huoyan mountain, the valleys pass through the mountains. Most of the valleys have clear springs and shady green trees, forming long and narrow oases. Among them, the most famous Valley is Grape Valley. In addition, there are Taoer Valley, Mu tou Valley, Tuyu Valley, lianmuqin Valley, and Su Bo valley.

Cause of formation

Coal spontaneous combustion is not uncommon in Xinjiang. Today, the Liuhuanggou coalfield, 42 kilometers away from Urumqi City, has been "crisscrossed and crisscrossed with thick smoke and endless flames in the crevices since the reign of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty." It has been more than 110 years now (in 2019). It took four years (1999-2003) to put out the fire in this coalfield. "Tianshan is an area with more intense geological activities. The horizontal coal seams buried in the strata mostly become inclined coal seams after many geological movements. After the coal seams are exposed, they come into contact with the air, and the accumulated heat increases after oxidation, which leads to spontaneous combustion and eventually leads to coalfield fire." Liuhuanggou coal field fire area project technical director, nursery engineer explained. The heat and dryness of Huoyanshan are attributed to its unique natural and geographical conditions. In reality, Huoyanshan is one of the branches of Tianshan Mountains, which was formed during the Himalayan orogeny 50-60 million years ago. During tens of millions of years, countless fold belts left by the lateral movement of the earth's crust and the wind erosion and rain stripping of nature have formed the undulating mountains and vertical and horizontal gullies of Huoyanshan. The temperature in mountain area can reach 47 ℃ in summer, 80 ℃ in direct sunlight, and baked eggs in sand.

Tuyugou Maza village houses. Most of the houses in Huoyanshan area are half cellar type and half buried underground. Adobe with fast heat dissipation has always been the main local building material.

Turpan is the lowest land of Uygur language. It is located in the hinterland of Eurasia, deep inland, far from the sea, surrounded by a large area of arid area, sandwiched between the Bogda mountains and the Kuruktag mountains in the East Tianshan Mountains, forming the famous Turpan Hami subsidence basin. Because of the extremely arid climate, the water carrying capacity is very weak, and the hydraulic accumulation in the basin is very weak. The Huoyanshan Mountains lie in the middle and north of the basin. The blocking effect makes it difficult for the weathered materials eroded by the Tianshan Mountains to enter into the center of the basin, and there is no material source supplement after the collapse, so the basin is naturally more and more low-lying. Turpan is far away from the ocean, the moist air mass of the ocean is unable to enter, and the Atlantic water vapor from the west is blocked by the Tianshan Mountains. The terrain is too low, the elevation difference between the mountain and the basin is more than 5600m in a short distance, and the foehn effect caused by the subsidence and warming of air flow makes the place dry and hot. Therefore, it is known as "Huozhou". Due to the bare mountains, no vegetation, large area of Gobi desert, long sunshine time, rapid temperature increase during the day, low basin temperature, and difficult loss of hot air, the only hot stove in the world above 42 ° north latitude is formed.

Today's Huoyanshan still stands in the northern Turpan Basin, stretching for more than 100 kilometers, 10 kilometers wide and more than 500 meters above sea level. In the book of mountains and seas, it is called "hot mountain". In Uygur language, it is called "kiziltak", which means red mountain. In Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was called "chishi mountain". Huoyanshan mountain is full of ravines, twists and turns, and no grass grows. In the hot summer, the temperature of the exposed surface can reach 75 ℃ under the sun baking, and the heat wave is rolling, making people breathless. Due to the relatively horizontal accumulation of strata and the alternation of soft and hard strata, gullies are formed along the slope after years of rain erosion. The material eroded by the mountain forms a red pluvial fan skirt in front of the foot of the mountain, and the front edge of the fan skirt forms numerous polygonal cracks in the arid environment, which is particularly eye-catching.

Although the high temperature is intolerable, Huoyanshan is a natural underground reservoir dam. It is precisely because the Huoyan mountain blocks the groundwater from the Gobi gravel belt in the middle, which raises the phreatic water level and forms a phreatic water overflow zone on the northern edge of the mountain. Many springs are exposed, moistening several oases such as Shanshan, lianmuqin and SUBASHI, which also creates the life of this area.

Myths and legends

Journey to the West

Huoyanshan has its unique natural features. In addition, Wu Chengen wrote the story of Tang Sanzang's Buddhist scriptures in Huoyanshan and monkey king's banana fan into the famous ancient novel Journey to the West in the late Ming Dynasty, which connects Huoyanshan with Tang monk, Monkey King, Princess Iron Fan and ox demon king, making Huoyanshan a magical mountain. When you go to Huoyanshan, you can also see Tang Seng road's outmoded tie horse post - a stone in the sky still stands in shengjinkou; a flat topped hillside in the distance is Tang Seng's stepping stone; to the east of tie horse post, there is a peak across the gorge, with a huge stone that looks like a long mouth, called Bajie stone; while looking at the wonder, you can also talk about sun monkey's use of Princess Bajiao fan to extinguish Huoyanshan The story of fire, this trip will become interesting.

As the saying goes, in the Western days of Tang Dynasty, Sanzang stopped Huoyanshan on the way to pass by. When he met an elder, he said, "I dare to ask my father-in-law, when you are in autumn, why is it so hot?" "The old man said:" I call the flame mountain, no spring, no autumn, four seasons are hot Sanzang said: "where is the flame mountain? Can we block the way to the west? " The old man said, "the west can't go. The mountain is 60 li away from here, which is the only way for the West. However, it has 800 Li flames and is surrounded by nothing. If you cross the mountain, even if you have a copper skull and an iron body, it will turn into juice. " When Sanzang heard the speech, he was shocked and didn't dare to ask again In journey to the west, the four teachers and apprentices encounter this dialogue when they first arrive at Huoyan mountain, which leads to the story of Princess Iron Fan, the ox demon king and the three borrowed banana fans.

Folklore

According to the Uygur folklore, there is a dragon deep in the Tianshan Mountains, which only eats boy and girl. The local supreme ruler shatok bukharahan sent Hala and Zhuo to subdue the dragon in order to kill the people. After a thrilling battle, the dragon was killed by Hara and Zhuo in qijiaojing, northeast of Turpan. The Dragon went west with wound, and the whole mountain was red with blood. Therefore, Uighurs call this mountain Hongshan, which is what we call Huoyanshan.

Historical records

It is also recorded in historical books that Huoyanshan was once a sea of fire. According to Wang Yande's Gao Chang Xing Ji, "in Beiting Beishan (Huoyan mountain), there is often smoke rising in the mountains, but there is no cloud. In the evening, if the fire is burning, all the birds and mice will be red When Cen Shen, a famous frontier poet of the Tang Dynasty, passed through Huoyanshan for the first time, he wrote a poem "jinghuoshan" as follows: "the volcano is only seen now, and it is abrupt in the east of Puchang. The red flame burns the cloud, and the burning atmosphere steams the air. I don't know how Yin and Yang charcoal can burn here alone. When I came to the severe winter, there was a lot of wind at the foot of the mountain. People and horses sweat, who knows the work of creation. "

Get honor

On August 23, 2011, In accordance with the national standards of the people's Republic of China "classification and evaluation of quality grades of scenic spots" and "administrative measures for quality grade evaluation of scenic spots", the relevant provincial, autonomous regional and municipal quality grade evaluation committees of scenic spots recommend that the national quality grade evaluation committee of scenic spots organize the evaluation, and the Flame Mountain scenic spot in Turpan region has reached the national 4A standard of scenic spots It is now approved as a national 4A scenic spot after being studied and decided by the national quality rating committee of scenic spots.

On April 13, 2018, he was shortlisted for the "magic northwest 100 scenes".

Tourism information

Turpan flame scenic spot is a pearl in the west of Xinjiang, with its long history

Chinese PinYin : Huo Yan Shan