Tianshan Mountain

Tianshan Mountain

Tianshan Mountain, one of the seven largest mountain systems in the world, is located in the hinterland of Eurasia. It spans China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan from east to west, with a total length of about 2500 km, an average width of 250-350 km from north to south, and a maximum width of more than 800 km. It is the largest independent latitudinal mountain system in the world, the farthest mountain system from the ocean and the largest mountain system in the global arid area Mountains.

Tianshan Mountain is east-west, stretching 1700 kilometers in China, covering an area of more than 570000 square kilometers, accounting for about 1 / 3 of the total area of Xinjiang. The Tianshan Mountains in China roughly divide Xinjiang into two parts: Tarim Basin in the South and Junggar Basin in the north. Tomur peak is the highest peak of Tianshan Mountains, with an altitude of 7443.8 meters. The Xier, Chu and Ili rivers all originate from the Tianshan Mountains.

On June 21, 2013, four areas of Tianshan Mountain in China, including Tomur peak, kalajun kurdning, Bayinbuluke and Bogda, were successfully applied for World Natural Heritage under the name of "Xinjiang Tianshan Mountain", becoming the 44th World Heritage in China. From July 10 to 17, 2017, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointly selected six natural heritage projects, including the Western Tianshan Mountains, into the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The Tianshan Mountains in China are composed of three parallel folded mountains, high in the West and low in the East. The Northern Tianshan vein includes alatao mountain, Keguqin mountain, boluokonu mountain, Bogda mountain, etc.; the Middle Tianshan vein (trunk) includes Alakal mountain, Nalati mountain, erwengen mountain, Huola mountain, etc.; the southern Tianshan vein includes kokshaer mountain, hark mountain, tiersk mountain, kalatike mountain, etc.

geographical position

Tianshan mountain system is located in the hinterland of Eurasia, with an average altitude of about 4000 meters. It starts from XINGXINGXIA Gobi in Hami, Xinjiang, China in the East, and ends at kizilkum desert in Uzbekistan in the West. It stretches nearly east-west, across China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and stretches about 1760 kilometers in Xinjiang, China.

Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang is also known as Tianshan Mountain in China or East Tianshan Mountain. In ancient times, it was called Baishan Mountain, also known as Xueshan mountain. Because of snow in winter and summer, it got its name. Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang is 1760 kilometers long, accounting for more than 3 / 4 of the total length of Tianshan Mountain, with an average width of 300 kilometers. It has the highest peak of Tianshan Mountain, Tomur peak (7443 meters above sea level), which stretches across the whole territory of Xinjiang, and spans Kashi Region, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Aksu region, bayinguolengmeng Autonomous Prefecture, Turpan City, Hami City, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture and Bortala in Northern Xinjiang Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture, Shihezi City, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Urumqi city and many other prefectures and cities are the natural geographical boundary of Junggar Basin and Tarim Basin. The north and South are surrounded by Taklimakan Desert and Gurbantonggut desert, which is a unique geographical symbol of Xinjiang.

Geology and geomorphology

From the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, the modern geomorphic process of Tianshan Mountain is as follows

① Perennial snow cover and modern glaciation zone. It is located in the alpine zone covered with ice and snow at an altitude of 3800m-4200m. According to statistics, there are nearly 7000 modern glaciers in Tianshan, covering an area of 10000 square kilometers.

② Frost action zone. Located in the mountain area with an altitude of 2600-2700 meters, a large number of ancient glacial sediments are accumulated, and a variety of glacial erosion landforms are preserved, such as ancient ice bucket, ice trough valley, ice ridge, etc. The negative temperature period lasts for half a year and thaws only in midsummer.

③ Water erosion and accumulation zone. It is located at an altitude of 1500-2700 meters (or 2800 meters), with dense river network and developed River Valley terraces.

④ Drought erodes the low mountain belt. It is located below 1300-1500 meters above sea level, with annual precipitation of 200-400 mm. The south slope is located below 1700-2000 meters above sea level, with annual precipitation of 100-150 mm. The external force is mainly drying and denudation, especially in the south slope.

Climatic characteristics

Tianshan Mountain is the only large-scale mountain range clamped by huge desert in the world. It has become the most typical representative of large-scale mountain ecosystem in the global temperate arid region due to its geographical location, temperate continental arid climate, landform pattern of mountains and basins, numerous glaciers and rivers, wonderful natural scenery, special biota and ecological processes. Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang has the most typical and complete mountain vertical natural belt spectrum in the global temperate arid region, which reflects the distribution characteristics and variation rules of the biodiversity and bio ecological processes in the temperate arid region affected by the spatial changes of altitude, aspect and slope.

The climate in Tianshan mountains can be divided into cold and warm seasons. In the cold season, the weather is sunny, and the mountains, basins and valleys below 3000 meters are covered with deep snow and foggy frost. In warm season (summer), there is much rain and snow above 3000 meters above sea level. Below 3000 meters, the climate is cool.

In the Tianshan Mountains, especially in the western part of the Tianshan Mountains, obvious inversion stratification is often formed in winter. The inversion occurred in October and disappeared in April of the next year. The stratification in January is the largest, reaching about 3000 meters.

The annual precipitation of the Tianshan Mountains decreases gradually from west to east; the windward slope (North Slope) is more than the leeward slope (south slope); the basin or valley in the mountains is less than that in the peripheral mountains. Bayinbuluke, located in the inner part of Tianshan Mountain, is 2438m above sea level, with an annual precipitation of only 2762mm, which is less than that of mountains at the same height. The north slope of Tianshan Mountain is a wet island in arid area of China, with annual precipitation more than 500mm. Among them, the western part of Zhongshan forest belt is the most, which is 1139.7mm (recorded in 1970). The annual precipitation in tokson, which is close to sea level, is the least, only 6.9 mm. The maximum precipitation is concentrated in May and June, with the minimum in February.

Vegetation distribution

The vegetation distribution in the South and north of Tianshan Mountain is different. From the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, the vegetation in the north slope is mountain grassland, mountain meadow grassland, coniferous forest, alpine grassland, alpine cushion plants, snow and glacier. From the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, the southern slope is desert, desert grassland, arid mountain grassland, mountain grassland, denuded mountain and snow glacier.

Overview of mountain system

Characteristics of mountain system

Tianshan Mountain is one of the seven major mountain systems in the world. It is located in the hinterland of Eurasia, the largest land on earth. It spans China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan from east to west, with a total length of 2500 km, an average width of 250-350 km from north to south, and a maximum width of more than 800 km. Tianshan Mountain is the largest independent latitudinal mountain system in the world. It is also the farthest mountain system from the ocean in the world and the largest mountain system in the global arid area.

Tianshan Mountain is east-west, stretching 1700 kilometers in China, covering an area of more than 570000 square kilometers, accounting for about 1 / 3 of the total area of Xinjiang. The Tianshan Mountains in China roughly divide Xinjiang into two parts: Tarim Basin in the South and Junggar Basin in the north. Turpan Basin is between the two branches in the East. The long low warm pulse in the East reaches Jiayuguan.

Composition of mountain system

The Tianshan Mountains consist of three series of mountains, which are called North Tianshan, Middle Tianshan and South Tianshan from north to south.

Tianshan Mountain is composed of mountain, Intermountain basin and piedmont plain.

Starting from the border, the Tianshan Mountains are composed of three parallel folded mountains, high in the West and broad in the East. The Northern Tianshan vein includes alatao mountain, Keguqin mountain, borokonu mountain (borokonu mountain), Bogda mountain, etc.; the Middle Tianshan vein (trunk) includes Alakal mountain, Nalati mountain, erwengen mountain, Huola mountain, etc.; the southern Tianshan vein includes kokshar mountain, hark mountain, tieersk mountain, kalatike mountain, etc.

North Tianshan: from the border between China and Kazakhstan, it is alatao mountain, boluokonu mountain, Awulale mountain, yilianhabirga mountain, karawucheng mountain, Bogda mountain, Balikun mountain and karlik mountain from west to East.

Geological characteristics

Geological formation

Tianshan is a relatively young mountain system, which was formed about 23 million years ago. About 12-2 million years ago. The geomorphic features of the present mountain range are the product of crustal movement in the late Cenozoic. The geological evolution after the formation of Tianshan mountains can be divided into three stages: syn collisional post collisional tectonomagmatic activity stage from the end of Carboniferous to the beginning of Permian, mantle derived magmatic activity and crust mantle interaction stage from the early to Middle Permian, and intracontinental evolution stage since the Late Permian.

Geological Composition

The crust of Tianshan Mountains and its adjacent areas can be divided into 15 units. The collision zone of the South Tianshan Mountains in the south of the west is an arc-shaped structural belt protruding to the south, the ancient land fragments and collision zones in the north are distributed in NW trending oblique rows, forming a giant broom like structure, and the East is a nearly EW trending paleoactive continental margin or island arc and collision zone.

Main peaks

The Tianshan Mountains are composed of three parallel mountains. In the North Tianshan Mountains are alatao mountain, borokonou mountain and yilianhabirga mountain. In the Middle Tianshan Mountains are Wusun mountain, Nalati mountain and erbin mountain. In the South Tianshan Mountains are kokshale mountain, harktawu mountain, koktieke mountain and Huola mountain. In the East Tianshan Mountains are Bogda mountain, Balikun mountain and kallik mountain.

In the Tianshan mountain system, there are about dozens of peaks with an altitude of more than 5000 meters. In addition to the highest peak, Tomur peak, there are also the Sino Kazakhstan boundary peaks, such as hantengri peak, Bogda peak, vajipeikavili mountain, draskba mountain, souleizi mountain, shikaterdong peak, zihabajian mountain, etc.

Bogda peak

Bogda peak, 5445 meters above sea level, is located at 88.3 degrees east longitude and 43.8 degrees north latitude in Fuyang, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Chinese PinYin : Tian Shan