Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau
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Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau or Yungui Plateau covers southwestern China. There are two distinct areas of this plateau: an area of high plateau averaging about 2,000 m with mountain peaks as high as 3,700 m in northern Yunnan province, and an area of rolling hills, deep river-carved gorges, and mountains marked with geologic faults in western Guizhou province.[1] Easily eroded limestone underlies the plateau, allowing for spectacular karsts.[2]
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[edit] Temperature
Due to its high elevation, the climate of the Plateau is subjected to intense solar radiation and cold temperatures with a large daily fluctuation and little yearly variation. The climate is divided in to dry and wet seasons. Overall, the description of the climate is complicated on the Plateau as the temperature varies from place to place. The height of the Plateau accounts for approximately one-third of the troposphere on earth due to its high elevation, since as height rises, troposphere drops. For every 100 metre rise, in general there is a 6 degree F fall in temperature. In north Tibet the atmospheric temperatures are in closed temperature isolines showing the distinct impact of high elevation on temperature.[3]
[edit] Glaciers
During the Quaternary there have been alternating glacial and interglacial periods, four glacial periods and three interglacial. The North Tibet Plateau are large areas of permafrost The Quinghai-Tibet Plateau is still in a glacial period.[4]
[edit] Rivers
The many high mountain peaks on Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau are the source of many of Asia's great rivers. Some merge and become great rivers flowing into the sea, while others empty into inland lakes. Rivers from the southeast include the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and the upper reaches of the Indus River and the Brahmaputra River known as the Tongtian River, Garmalequ, Shiquan, Yarlung Tsangpo and Nyang Rivers and Lancang rivers. To the north are rivers that begin in glaciers and flow into inland lakes or dry inland basins.[5]
[edit] Lakes
The Quinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the areas with the most lakes in China of all sizes and descriptions. Most of the lakes are clustered. A lake usually lies in a depression or basin. The Tibet Autonomous Region has over 1,500 lakes. The largest inland lake is the Nam Co, followed by Seling Co and Zhari Nam Co.[6]
[edit] Flora
Climate rainy in the southwest in the summer providing for dense forests, both broadleaf and coniferous. The shrubbery is varied from needles bush thickets to acacia bushes growing in dried river beds. Grassy marshland over the Tibet Autonomous Region
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ^ Chinese History and Statistics - Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Upland. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ^ Qinye Yang. The Geology of Tibet -- Complicated and Varietied. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ Qinye Yang. Tibet Geography -- Widespread Glaciers on Frozen Soil. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ Qinye Yang. Tibetan Geography -- Long Rivers with Distant Sources. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ Qinye Yang. Geography of Tibet -- Widespread Lakes. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
