The Loess Plateau (simplified Chinese: 黄土高原; traditional Chinese: 黃土高原; pinyin: huángtǔ gāoyuán), also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle of China's Yellow River and China proper . Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use In Geology and Earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting To help compare Orders of magnitude of different geographical regions we list here Surface areas between 100000 km² and 1000000 km² China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Yellow River or Huang He / Hwang Ho ( Hatan Gol Queen river) is the second-longest river in China (after the Yangtze River) and the China proper (also known as Inner China) refers to the historical lands of China where the Han Chinese are the majority Ethnic group, in contrast Loess is the name for the silty soil that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages. Loess is a homogeneous typically non stratified porous Friable,slightly coherent often calcareous fine-grained Silty pale yellow or buff windblown ( aeolian Silt is Soil or rock derived Granular material of a Grain size between sand and clay Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is a four piece rock band from Chicago Illinois United States founded by Shaun Glass Tom Schofield Tim King and Adam Zadel Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water; in fact, the soil of this region has been called the "most highly erodible soil on earth". Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind [1] The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and parts of others. ( Postal map spelling: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the People's Republic of China. ( Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess ( is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ningxia ( Postal map spelling: Ningsia full name Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ( is a Hui autonomous region of the People's Republic
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History
In ancient times, some of the earliest recorded mention of this area is from travel along the Northern Silk Road. The Northern Silk Road is a Prehistoric Trackway in northern China originating in the early capital of Xi'an and extending north of the [2] In the last part of the first millennium BC, after the explorer Zhang Qian's return to China, the Han Dynasty pushed the Xiongnu back and trade and cultural exchange flourished along the Northern Silk Road through the southern Loess Plateau. Zhang Qian ( 張[[wikt 騫|騫]] Wade-Giles Chang Ch'ien was an imperial envoy to the outside world in the 2nd century BC during the time of the Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Xiongnu ( Turkish: Doğu Hun were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes The Northern Silk Road is a Prehistoric Trackway in northern China originating in the early capital of Xi'an and extending north of the Goods moving by caravan to the west included gold, rubies, jade, textiles, coral, ivory and art works. Jade is an Ornamental stone. The term jade is applied to two different rocks that are made up of different Silicate minerals. In the opposite direction moved bronze weapons, furs, ceramics and cinnamon bark. The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός ( keramikos) [3]
Historically the Loess Plateau has provided simple yet insulated shelter from the cold winter and hot summer in the region, as homes called yaodong (simplified Chinese: 窑洞; traditional Chinese: 窰洞) were often carved into the loess soil; some families still live in this kind of shelter in modern times. This article is about artificial caves used as Dwellings, especially those in north China called yaodongs, as During the Shaanxi Earthquake, nearly a million people were killed as a result of collapsing loess caves. The yaodongs that are best-known to the world are perhaps those in Yan'an where the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong headquartered in 1930s. Yan'an ( is a city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led When Edgar Snow, the author of Red Star Over China, visited Mao and his party, he lived in a yaodong. Edgar Snow ( 19 July 1905 in Kansas City Missouri – 15 February 1972 in Geneva) was an American Journalist Red Star Over China, a book by Edgar Snow, is an account of the Communist Party of China written when they were a guerrilla army still obscure This article is about artificial caves used as Dwellings, especially those in north China called yaodongs, as
Agriculture and environment
The Loess Plateau was highly fertile and easy to farm in ancient times, which contributed to the development of early Chinese civilization around the Loess Plateau.
Centuries of deforestation and over-grazing, exacerbated by China's population increase, have resulted in degenerated ecosystems, desertification, and poor local economies. Deforestation is the conversion of Forested areas to non-forest land for use such as Arable land, Pasture, urban use logged area or wasteland An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations
In 1994 an effort known as the Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project was launched to mitigate desertification; limited success has resulted for a portion of the Loess Plateau, where now trees and grass have turned green and farmers are busy in their croplands. A major focus of the Project was to try and guide the people living in the Plateau to use more sustainable ways of living such as keeping goats in pens not being allowed to roam free and erode the soft silty soil found in the plateau. Sustainability, in a general sense is the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely Many trees were planted and nature is now reclaiming a portion of the Loess Plateau. Results have reduced the massive silt loads to the Yellow River by about one percent. [4]
The Loess Plateau was formed over long geologic times, and scientists have derived valuable information about global climate change from samples taken from the deep layer of its silty soil. The geologic time scale is a chronologic schema (or idealized Model) relating Stratigraphy to time that is used by Geologists and other Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences
See also
References
- ^ John M. Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau or Yungui Plateau covers southwestern China. Laflen, Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming, 2000, CRC Press, 736 pages ISBN 0849323495
- ^ Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, 2001, University of California Press, 253 pages ISBN 0520232143
- ^ C.Michael Hogan,Silk Road, North China, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham
- ^ World Bank, Reengaging in Agricultural Water Management: Challenges and Options, 2006, 218 pages ISBN 0821364987
External links
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