Danxia landform genesis of the Qiyun Mountain, Anhui Province

The Danxia landform of Qiyun Mountain is mainly developed on the red granule conglomerates named Xiaoyan Group (K2x1) of middle Cretaceous series, which is controlled mainly by three faulted zones, namely, Jingdezhen-Qimen faulted zone, Jiangwan-Jiekou compressional faulted zone and Kaihua-Chun’an folding faulted zone. During the Cretaceous period, this area firstly experienced massif subsidence to become a continental faulted basin, then having thick Cretaceous red sediments accumulated on it. In the supervened neotectonism, this area experienced an uplifting process, which made the thick Cretaceous sediments into a mountain with an altitude of 500-600 m. After undergoing the processes of vertical joint development, weathering, denudation and transportation, as well as evidently differential weathering and denudation influenced by lithology and structure between sandstone and conglomerate, the grand Danxia landscape consisting of peak forests, steep cliffs, caves, mesas, castellated peaks, natural bridges and so on formed. The three nick points located respectively at 585 m, 400 m and 150 m generally reflect the three dominated uplifting processes during the neotectonism.