Meri Snow Mountain

Meri Snow Mountain

Meili Snow Mountain, located in the east of Chayu County in Tibet and the west of Yunling Township in Deqin County of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, is a huge snow mountain group with a total length of 150 km. It is called Kawagebo snow mountain in Tibetan area, and the word "Meili" is translated into Chinese by Deqin Tibetan language mainri, which means medicinal mountain. It gets its name because it is rich in all kinds of precious medicinal materials

. At the same time, it is also the holy land of Yongzhong Bon religion. It is also known as the four sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism with Gangrenboqi in Tibet, Animaqing mountain in Qinghai and gaduojuewo mountain in Qinghai.

Kawagebo, the highest peak in Yunnan Province, is 6740 meters above sea level. It is 10 kilometers southwest of Deqin County and 184 kilometers away from Zhongdian county. It is about 30 kilometers long, and the highest peak in pyramid shape is Kawagebo peak, which is 6740 meters above sea level. It is an extremely high mountain protruding from the top of the surrounding mountains for nearly 1000 meters. It is the highest peak in Yunnan Province. Meili Snow Mountain is the highest mountain in the southeastern margin of Qinghai Tibet Plateau. It has 13 peaks above 6000 meters above sea level around Kawagebo peak.

geographical environment

Location context

According to the atlas of Yunnan Province published by China Map Publishing House (2006), the narrow sense of Meili Snow Mountain only refers to the section of Taizi snow mountain in the middle and north section of Nushan mountain in Hengduan Mountains (the coordinates are 98 ° 30 ′～ 98 ° 46 ′ E and 28 ° 10 ′～ 28 ° 32 ′ n), and the section of Meili Snow Mountain (the coordinates are east longitude) The 13 peaks, headed by Kawagebo peak, belong to Taizi snow mountain. However, in many versions of the text and pictures, they are often called "Meili Snow Mountain" in a broad sense, and Kawagebo peak is taken as the landmark of Meili Snow Mountain.

Meili Snow Mountain is located at the southeast edge of Qinghai Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan Tibet border between Lancang River and Nujiang River. It is connected with taniantaen mountain in Tibet in the north and Biluo snow mountain in Gongshan County, Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan Province in the south. The highest altitude of the mountain is 6740m, and the lowest altitude is 900m at the junction of chalitong and Yanmen Township, with a relative elevation difference of 5840m.

Geology and geomorphology

In terms of geological structure, Meili Snow Mountain is located in the part where the arc turning of the Sanjiang Indosinian fold system in the paleogeosyncline was sharply compressed and narrowed; in terms of topography and geomorphology, the northern part of the mountain is wide and thick, and the terrain undulation is relatively not violent, and there are no snow capped peaks and fully developed glaciers, but the landform of the high mountain liushitan is extremely developed, while the southern part of the mountain is narrow, and the terrain fluctuates violently, forming a very developed mountain High mountains and glacial landforms. It stretches from NNW to se, towering between Nujiang River and Lancang River Grand Canyon.

climate

The climate belongs to the plateau cold temperate mountain climate. The annual temperature is low, the dry and wet seasons are distinct, and the three-dimensional climate is prominent. It has the characteristics of strong solar radiation, distinct dry and wet seasons, and significant vertical climate change.

Because the terrain of Taizi snow mountain is high in the north and low in the south, the river valley is open to the south, and the air flow can go up the valley. Influenced by the monsoon, the dry and wet seasons are distinct, and the mountain is high and precipitous, five different vertical climate zones are formed, namely, the alpine tundra climate zone, with an altitude of 5000-6740 meters, the alpine tundra climate zone, with an altitude of 4400-5000 meters, and the cold temperate subalpine climate zone, with an altitude of 3100-4400 meters The temperate and warm temperate mountain climate zone is 2600-3100 meters above sea level, and the subtropical arid valley climate zone is 2038-2600 meters above sea level. The snow peaks above the 4000 meter snow line are steep, the clouds are shining, and the glaciers in the valley stretch for several kilometers, which is spectacular. The larger glaciers are niuqia, siqia and mingyongqia. Below the snow line, the slopes on both sides of the glacier are covered with dense alpine shrubs and coniferous forests, which are lush and green, reflecting the bright color of the snow.

Meili Snow Mountain is not only complex in terrain, but also complex in climate change. In summer, the temperature in the valley at the foot of the mountain can reach 11-29 ℃, while in the high mountains it is from minus 10 ℃ to 20 ℃. The average annual precipitation is 600 mm, mostly concentrated in June to August. During this period, the climate is extremely unstable, which is a forbidden area for mountaineering.

Composition of mountains

Snow Peak

Kawagebo, the main peak of Prince snow mountain, means "white snow mountain" in Tibetan, commonly known as "God of snow mountain". It is said that he was originally a ferocious evil spirit with nine heads and eighteen arms. Later, he was educated by master lianhuasheng, and became a Buddhist. He became the son leader of Thousand Buddhas. He was a divine general under the command of the great master Gesar, who defeated the enemy Baozhu. From then on, he led the border area and the snow covered area. The statue of kawagbo is often worshipped on the altar. He rides on a white horse and holds a long sword. He is majestic, just like a protective god.

Although Kawagebo and its surrounding peaks are called "Thirteen peaks", the meaning is to take the auspicious number of "thirteen" in Tibetan. In fact, it is not the exact thirteen snow peaks, but the general name of many peaks. Among the famous peaks are mianzim, jivaren'an, bujisongji Wuxue, mabingzhawangdui and Chou

Guilaka peak, said lazan guimianbu peak. Among them, mianzim peak, which means the goddess of the sea, is located in the south of Kawagebo peak. According to legend, this peak is the wife of Kawagebo. Kawagebo went with King Gesar to the hellohai kingdom. The hellohai Kingdom tried to deceive them and betrothed mianzim to Kawagebo. Unexpectedly, Kawagebo and mianzim fell in love with each other and never separated. It is also said that mianzimu is the daughter of Yulong Snow Mountain. Although she is the wife of kawagbo, she is yearning for her hometown and facing it. There are always clouds around the snow peak, people call it mianzimu's shameful veil. Jivaren'an peak, which means "the crown of five Buddhas", is five flat and sharp peaks in parallel. It is located on the north side of mianzim peak, with an altitude of 5770.5 meters. The bujisong jiewuxue peak, which is said to be the son of Kawagebo and mianzimu, is located between the wufoguan peak and Kawagebo peak. The patron saint in the northeast of kawagbo refers to zalawangdui peak, also known as the "invincible God of war" (general peak). Coagulaka, which means the peak above the round lake, is located above the iceberg of the scqia glacier.

Four glaciers

There are four glaciers in Meili Snow Mountain, namely, Mingyong glacier, sinang glacier, Nuba glacier and Nongsong glacier. They are rare modern glaciers with low latitude, low temperature (minus 5 ℃) and low altitude (2700m) in the world. Among them, Mingyong glacier is the longest and largest. The Mingyong glacier extends from the Meili Snow Mountain with an altitude of 6740 meters to the primeval forest zone with an average width of 500 meters, an area of 13 square kilometers and an annual melting volume of 232 million cubic meters. It is the modern glacier with the southernmost latitude and the lowest extension under the glacier tongue in China. When the sun is scorching, the temperature of the snow mountain rises, the glaciers are heated and melt, hundreds of huge ice bodies collapse and move down, the sound is like thunder, the earthquake is shaking, which is breathtaking.

However, at the beginning of the 21st century, due to global warming and too many tourists, the melting rate of Mingyong glacier is increasing, and it is retreating at a rate of about 50 meters per year. This situation worries local residents and experts.

natural resources

plant resources

Located in the hinterland of Hengduan Mountains, Meili Snow Mountain is a world natural heritage site and a national scenic spot with three parallel rivers. It is one of the regions with the richest biodiversity in Yunnan, one of the regions with the richest biodiversity in China and temperate regions in the world, and one of the 17 key regions for biodiversity conservation in China.

According to the classification system of Yunnan vegetation, it can be divided into 9 vegetation types, 13 vegetation subtypes and 32 formations, accounting for 75.10%, 38.12% and 18.19% of Yunnan Vegetation Types, vegetation subtypes and formations respectively; The key protection types are coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, Quercus sclerophylla forest, Cunninghamia lanceolata forest, larch forest, spruce and fir forest, Tibetan Berlin forest, seabuckthorn forest, alpine shrub and sparse vegetation of alpine liushitan.

A total of 223 species belonging to 133 genera of 62 families were recorded in 60 sample plots of spruce fir community in Meili Snow Mountain, including 13 species of 7 genera of 6 families of pteridophytes, 12 species of 9 genera of 3 families of gymnosperms, 177 species of 100 genera of 49 families of dicotyledons and 21 species of 17 genera of 4 families of monocotyledons. 133 genera can be divided into 12 different geographical elements, of which tropical elements account for 28.160% of the total genera and temperate elements account for 71.140% of the total genera, reflecting that Meili Snow Mountain, as a part of Hengduan Mountains, has the characteristics of temperate flora in East Asia.

Among the temperate elements, the north temperate element is the most, accounting for 46.190% of the total genera; East Asia and North America discontinuous distribution element and East Asia distribution element take the second place, accounting for 11.150% respectively; old world temperate element accounts for 71.96%; lack of Central Asia distribution and Mediterranean, West Asia to Central Asia distribution element. Besides temperate elements, tropical elements are also an important part, accounting for 28.16% of the total genera. Among them, the tropical distribution components accounted for 91.73%; tropical Asia and tropical America discontinuous distribution components accounted for 21.65%; Old World tropical distribution components and tropical Asia to tropical Africa distribution components accounted for 11.77%; tropical distribution components accounted for the least, only 0.188%.

Chinese PinYin : Mei Li Xue Shan