Danxia Landform Genesis on Qiyun Mountain, Anhui Province
安徽齐云山丹霞地貌成因

The Danxia landform of Qiyun Mountain is mainly developed on red sands tone and conglomerate of middle Cretaceous series (K2x1). The landform developme nt in this area is mainly controlled by three faulted zones, that is, Jingdezhen -Qimen faulted zone, Jiangwan-Jiekou faulted zone and Kaihua-Chun'an faulted zon e. During the Cretaceous period, this area firstly experienced massif subsidence to a continental fault basin, and received thick Cretaceous red beds to accumul ation. Then, during neotectonism, this area experienced an uplift process, the t hick Cretaceous sediments became a mountain body with an altitude of 500-600 m. After having undergone the processes of vertical joints development, weathering, denudation and transportation, as well as influenced by the lithological compon ent and structure between the sandstone and the conglomerate, grand Danxia lands cape has formed in this area such as peak forest, steep cliff, cave, mesa, caste llated peak and natural bridge. The three-grade knick points of Qiyun Mountain i llustrates that the area has experienced three major uplift processes during the neotectonism.