Islands and reefs in the Zhongsha Islands of Hainan Province

The Zhongsha Islands, the Zhongsha Islands, are one of the four archipelago of the South China Sea Islands, located in the central part of the South China Sea. The east of Paracel Islands is south and 200 kilometers away from Yongxing island. The archipelago is located in the north of the archipelago in the north of the Shenhu fox sand, the south to the Huangyan, and the east to the island of Huangyan. The geographical location is located at the north latitude 13 degrees 57 '- 19 degrees 33', the east longitude 113 degrees 02 '- 118 degree 45', the north south latitude latitude 5 degree 36 ', the East West Cross - longitude 5 degree 43', the sea area area is square kilometers, the island reef dispersal scope is only inferior to the Spratly Islands. The Zhongsha Islands and their waters are hosted by Xisha District, Hainan, China.

The Zhongsha Islands are marine islands, which are developed on the top of the central deep sea basin and the northern slope of Shanghai. They are composed of 26 scattered sand sands named Huangyan island and the Zhongsha great Atoll, and the 4 scattered sand sands, including the unified sand, the constitutional sand, the Shenhu sand and the Central South desert. Besides the reef of Huang Yandao's Atoll, the other hidden reefs are hidden in the sea.

The main body of the Zhongsha Islands is 140 km long, 60 km wide and 13-20 meters deep, and is the largest atoll in the South China Sea. Huangyan island is the only island in the Zhongsha Islands. The atoll area is about 130 square kilometers, and the lagoon is 10-20 meters deep. Huangyan Island is about 170 nautical miles east of Zhongsha Atoll, adjacent to Manila trench.

The surface water temperature of the Zhongsha Islands is 27 degrees -30, the sea salinity is 32.5-34, and the sea water is 35-38 meters transparent. The Zhongsha Islands are the geological products of various reef corals. Coral reefs and their surrounding areas grow various marine organisms, forming coral reef tribes, rich in fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, and have important development value.

Historical evolution

In the pre Qin period, Hainan Island and the South China Sea Islands belonged to the Central Plains Dynasty. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the whole country was in chaos. Zhao Tuo, a captain of Nanhai County, annexed three counties and established the state of Nanyue (Guangdong). Hainan Island and Nanhai islands were under the jurisdiction of Nanyue. In the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent Fu Bo general Lu bode and General Yang Buping of louchuan to settle the chaos in southern Guangdong, and set up daner, zhuya, Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, rinan and other nine counties, of which daner and zhuya were on Hainan Island. During the Three Kingdoms period (220-265), the South China Sea was under the jurisdiction of Wu state. Sun Quan, the king of Wu, sent Kangtai and Zhuying envoys to Funan (now Cambodia) and other countries. Kangtai and Zhuying envoys visited some islands in the South China Sea and observed "coral island" carefully. In the three to six years (607 to 610 years) of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Di sent Chang Jun and Wang Junzheng to the red earth state (now the southeast of Malay Peninsula). The voyage passes through the west side of Xisha and the west of Spratly Islands. In Hainan Island, the 3 counties of zhuya, aura, Lin Zhen (that is, the Zhen state of the descendants, Sanya today), and the South China Sea Islands are under the jurisdiction of Hainan Island. In the first year of Zhenguan reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty (627), Yazhou (formerly zhuya county), Danzhou (formerly daner county) and Zhenzhou (formerly Linzhen county) were set up in Hainan. Nanhai islands were under the jurisdiction of Yazhou Dufu and belonged to Zhenzhou, which formally established China's sovereignty over Nanhai islands. the Song Dynasty inherited the administrative construction of the Tang Dynasty. in the early Qing Dynasty, the imperial court sent naval officers to inspect the islands in the South China Sea and the fishermen engaged in fishery production in the South China Sea to protect the territory and the people. During the Shunzhi period (1644-1661), the Qing government set up the zhenbiao Youying camp in Qiongzhou, stationed in Haikou, supervised the warships of the water army, and divided the flood defense on the sea surface. In the thirty-six years (1947) of the Republic of China in December 1st, the Ministry of the interior re examined the names of Dongsha, Xisha, Zhong Sha, Spratly Islands and their respective islands, reefs, sand and shoals, and officially released the "new name of the South China Sea Islands comparison table". At the same time, it announced that Dongsha, Xisha, China sand and Spratly Islands should be placed under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong provincial government. In the thirty-eight China the 1949 (1949), the Chinese government continued to exercise sovereignty over the Zhongsha Islands and their waters in the southwest. In the Zhongsha Islands, the Dongsha Islands office in Paracel Islands, Yongxing island was set up in March 24th 1959. In March 4th 1969, it was renamed the Revolutionary Committee of Xisha, Zhong Sha and Spratly Islands of Guangdong province. In October 22nd 1981, approved by the State Council, the Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands and the Zhongsha Islands office were restored directly by the Hainan administrative district office. In April 13th 1988, the seven session of the National People's Congress decided to establish Hainan province and authorized Hainan to rule the Zhongsha Islands and its waters in Southwest China. The Zhongsha Islands Working Committee the Zhongsha Islands office in Southwest China is subordinate to the Hainan provincial Party committee and the Hainan provincial government. As the Hainan provincial agency, it exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Zhongsha Islands and their sea areas in the southwest. The Zhongsha Islands Working Committee and the Zhongsha Islands office in Southwest China are in the same office. The Zhongsha Islands, Hainan Province, was approved by China's State Council on June 21st 2012 to control the islands and reefs of Paracel Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Spratly Islands. In June the Zhongsha Islands, the first marine fishery resource research base built by the state in the Zhongsha Islands sea area, was formally established in the sand and sand research area of the marine fishery resources in the Zhongsha Islands. The first is the construction of the marine fishery resources research base in the central islands of China. The first is the establishment of the marine fishery resources research base in the Zhongsha Islands. It was founded in the past in the sea area of the Zhongsha Islands. The first is the establishment of the scientific research base for the marine fishery resources. The first is the The first pilot project covers 625 hectares of sea area, with 20000 grouper fry, 20000 Pinctada martensii fry, 20000 Pinctada Penguin fry and 20000 Eucheuma qiongzhi fry. In from May 24th to 25th, the Zhongsha Islands, which was commissioned by the comprehensive enforcement of No. 1 of the three Sha City, was delivered to the three Sha cities in 2015, and the first law enforcement inspection was completed. On April 18, 2020, the State Council recently approved the establishment of Xisha district and Nansha District in Sansha City, Hainan Province. The Zhongsha Islands and their waters are hosted by Xisha District of the three Shashi.

geographical environment

Location context

The Zhongsha Islands, known as "red hair shallow" and "Shi Xing Shi Tang", are located in the central part of the South China Sea. The east of Paracel Islands is south and 200 kilometers away from Yongxing island. The archipelago is located in the north of the archipelago in the north of the Shenhu fox sand, the south to the Huangyan, and the east to the island of Huangyan. The geographical location is located at the north latitude 13 degrees 57 '- 19 degrees 33', the east longitude 113 degrees 02 '- 118 degree 45', the north south latitude latitude 5 degree 36 ', the East West Cross - longitude 5 degree 43', the sea area area is square kilometers, the island reef dispersal scope is only inferior to the Spratly Islands.

topographic features

The Zhongsha sea area includes the Zhongsha uplift and the Huangyan uplift. There are over 1000 meters of coral reefs on the basement. The Zhongsha Islands are distributed on the steps of the northern slope of the South China Sea. The macroscopic landform is the middle sea sand plateau, which is the coral reef landform. The Zhongsha Islands are marine islands, all of which are similar to Paracel Islands's coral reefs. They are developed on the top of the central deep sea basin and the northern slope of Shanghai. They are composed of 26 scattered sand bodies, named Huangyan, and the Zhongsha Atoll, which are named for the 4 sand, and the undisturbed sand, the constitutional sand, the Shenhu sand and the central south sand. Besides the reef of the Huangyan Island, the outer part of the reef is exposed. Other sand reefs are hidden in the sea, ranging from tens of meters to hundreds of meters away from the sea. The west is guanshitan. The geological structure is similar to that of Paracel Islands. It is one of the components of the continental margin graben system in the South China Sea. The middle Sha Tai atoll is the largest body of the Zhongsha Islands and the largest atoll in the South China Sea Islands. It is located in the southeast of Paracel Islands. It is located on the middle sand steps on the eastern most part of the western slope of the South China Sea. It is slightly oval, and the long axis extends northeast about 76 nautical miles, and is about 33 nautical miles wide. The three-dimensional structure is short columnar, with a water depth of more than 10 meters at the top, the Zhongsha trough with a water depth of about 2500 meters in the west, and the central deep-sea basin with a water depth of 4000 meters on a steep slope of more than 50 ° in the East. There are 26 named sand on Zhongsha Atoll, which can be divided into two types: the sand on the edge of the reef and the sand in the lagoon. The coral reefs, shoals and sands are evenly distributed around the reef edge of Zhongsha Atoll. The named ones are Yinji beach, Wuyong shoal, Jimeng shoal, Haijiu shoal, Anding Lianjiao shoal, Meixi shoal, Bude shoal, POFU shoal, paibo shoal, Guodian shoal, Taojing shoal, Kangpai shoal, Huaxia shoal, Ximen shoal, bengu shoal There are 20 dark sands in Meibin, Luban, Zhongbei and Biwei. In the middle of Zhongsha Atoll, there is a lagoon. The water depth of the lagoon varies from 9.1 m to 109 m from northeast to southwest. The grooves and depressions in the lagoon are filled with white coral sand and scale debris, and many dark sands are distributed. There are six named dark sands: Shitang Liantan, Zhizhang dark sands, nanfa dark sands, Pingnan dark sands, strolling dark sands and Lexi dark sands. The modern sediments of Zhongsha atoll are coral jungle, coral reef ridge and coral gravel. The surface reef rocks of the reef front slope with the biological composition deeper than 60 meters are mainly crustacean coralline algae, the lagoon sediments are mainly foraminifera, followed by small molluscs and calcium algal debris, and the reef ring and point reef are mainly composed of reef building corals; the chemical elements vary with the biological composition, such as the relative molecular weight, 2478 in front of the reef, 3643 in the reef ring, and 2089 in the lagoon. With the increase of depth, the grain size of sediments changes from medium coarse sand to sandy silt in front of reef, from medium coarse sand to medium fine sand in reef ring, and from medium fine sand to fine silt in lagoon, with gravel distributed in some parts of reef ring and lagoon. The Zhongsha Islands, a large Atoll, including the Southern rock and the Northern Rock, are the only islands in the Zhongsha Islands. They are the only atolls in the oceanic crust of the South China Sea basin. The geographical coordinates are 15 degrees 08 '- 15 degrees 14', and 117 degrees 44 '- 117 degrees 48' east longitude, located at the eastern end of the Zhongsha Islands, near the Philippines archipelago and the middle of the Huangyan great Atoll.

Chinese PinYin : Hai Nan Sheng San Sha Shi Zhong Sha Qun Dao De Dao Jiao Ji Qi Hai Yu