Haian Mountains

Location of the Haian Mountains in Taiwan.

The Haian Mountains ( Chinese  海岸 山脈 , Pinyin Hǎi'àn Shānmài ) are elongated coastal mountains on the east coast of the island of Taiwan .

description

The Haian Mountains are on average only about 10 kilometers wide, and extend for a length of about 100 kilometers parallel to the coast of the Taiwanese counties Taitung and Hualien . The highest point is the Xingangdashan (新港 大 山, ) with 1682 meters . The mountains are relatively close to the coast, so that in sections there is only a relatively narrow coastal plain. The southern foothills begin about 10 kilometers north of Taitung City and the northern foothills end south of Hualien City .

The Haian Mountains are separated from the Taiwanese Central Mountains (Chungyang Mountains) by the Huadong or Huatung Valley, which is also very elongated .

geology

Geographically , the mountain range originated from a chain of volcanic islands that formed about 23 million years ago on the western edge of the Philippine Plate . In the early Pliocene , about 5 million years ago, the Philippine Plate drifted northwest and one volcanic island after another collided with the southwestern edge of the Eurasian Plate . As a result of the plate collision, on the one hand the Taiwanese Central Mountains were piled up on the Eurasian plate and, on the other hand, the Haian Mountains formed on the Philippine plate.

Lithostratographically , the mountains consist of three main layers : igneous rock , sedimentary rock and mixed rock. The main rock type of the eastern Haian Mountains is the Miocene andesite ( Qimei layers), followed by agglomerate rock ( Duluanshan layers) and mixed rock types ( sandstone , shale and conglomerate; Dagangkou layers). On the western slopes of the mountains there are Liji layers, which essentially correspond to the mixed stratum and are mainly a composite mixture of fine and coarse particulate material, such as sandstone and serpentinite . When these rock layers erode, so-called badlands are formed .

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  View of the Haian Mountains from the coast

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  In Chenggong Township

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  Liji Badlands on the Beinan River in the parish of the same name

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  In the northern section of the Haian Mountains ( Changbin )

Web links

Commons : Haian Mountains  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Taiwan , in www.laender-lexikon.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Taiwan Expeditions: Travel to Taiwan. GEO Tours, June 2017, accessed October 7, 2017 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} The Inaugural conference of IGU commission on "Geomorphology and Society": Field Trip Guide. September 15, 2014, accessed December 10, 2017 (English / Chinese). 

Coordinates: 23 ° 18 ′ 0 ″  N , 121 ° 24 ′ 0 ″  E