Jinfo Shan the highest peak of Dalou Mountains

Dalou Mountains

The Dalou Mountains in Nanchuan District, Chongqing is the highest peak in a range that is also the watershed between the Wu and Chiahui rivers.-References:...

, located in the upper reach of the Yangtze River

Yangtze River

The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

, is situated in Nanchuan District

Nanchuan District

Nanchuan District is a district of Chongqing municipality....

, the Municipality of Chongqing

Chongqing

Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

. Jinfo Shan is an isolated mountain with cliffs up to 300 m surrounding its relatively flat top. Its major vegetation types include subtropical broadleaf forest, coniferous forests and subalpine meadow. Besides typical karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 topography of gorges, stone forests and cave systems, Jinfo Shan is well known for its exceptional plant diversity of 4768 seed plants. It is also a refuge to endangered animals confined to karst regions such as Francois Langur Trachypithecus francoisi

Francois' Langur

Francois' langur or Francois' leaf monkey is a species of lutung and the type species of its species group. Francois' langur belongs to the Colobinae subfamily, Cercopithecidae family, in the Primates order...

. With its outstanding karst features and superb biodiversity, Jinfo Shan has been listed as a tentative World Heritage site since 2001.

Geography

Mt. Jinfo is a syncline mountain. The platform and terrace are composed of Permian limestone in the upper part with about 2000m a.s.l. In the meanwhile, karst geomorphologies in large scale on the surface or underground are found. The shale and sandstone of Silurian lay in the middle of Jinfo from 1000m to 1500m asl.. The low part of Jinfo is supported by the limestone and dolomite of Cambrian and Ordovician. Plenty of small- and microforms of karst are formed in this area. There are many cliffs and gorges in Jinfo Mt., the north slope is steep and the south slope is slight. The geomorphology of the Jinfo can be divided into two types:

1. Gorge in the low part of Jinfo Mt. whose elevation is about 800-1200m asl and relative height about 500m. It formed by water down cutting and eroding.
2. Platform of Mid-mountain distributes the area above 1200m asl of Jinfo Mt., Bozhi Mt. and Qingba Mt.. The relative height is 500-1000m. The way of the mountain extension is identical to the tectonic line. The top of the Mts. is a relic erosional basis.

Climate

It is in the subtropical humid monsoon zone with annual mean temperature of 8.2°C and precipitation of 1,434.5 mm on the top of the mountain.