Tourists climbed over the fence and stepped on the Danxia landform and were criticized! Why can't Danxia landform be stepped on? It takes decades for a footprint to recover

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A netizen video revealed that

Playing in Wave Valley in Jingbian County, Yulin, Shaanxi

A woman was found climbing over a fence

Take photos on the Danxia landform

In the video, the woman stood in a depression in the rock, holding onto the mountain wall with both hands, constantly adjusting her posture and stepping repeatedly, with someone walking below guiding her movements.

Video screenshots

This incident immediately caused heated discussions among netizens. Netizens expressed indignation and criticized the illegal photography and damage to natural geological relics. Later, the staff responded that the Danxia landform is not allowed to be trampled and it is irreparable.

In fact, this is not the first time that the Danxia landform has been destroyed. As early as 2018, netizens discovered that there were many signs of human destruction in the Longzhou Danxia landform natural landscape area in Jingbian, Shaanxi, and many people had casually carved on this Danxia landform.

Why can’t Danxia landform be trampled?

Danxia landform belongs to red bed landform and is a horizontal tectonic landform. It refers to isolated peaks and steep rocks formed by long-term weathering and stripping of red sandstone and erosion by running water. It is a general term for various Danxia peaks developed along vertical joints in thick red sand and conglomerate layers. This landform mainly develops in horizontal or gently inclined red strata from the Jurassic to the Tertiary. Danxia Mountain in northern Guangdong is the most typical, so it is called Danxia landform.

The development of Danxia landform began with the Himalayan orogeny in the late Tertiary period (2-3 million years ago), which caused some red strata to tilt and fold gently, and was accompanied by the development of a large number of joints and fissures.

Schematic diagram of the formation process of Danxia landform. Image source: Zhangye Danxia Scenic Area official website

The formation and evolution process of Danxia landform can be roughly divided into four stages: childhood, middle age, old age and extinction.

First, the basin containing red beds was uplifted to form an outflow area, and the flowing water concentrated in the low-lying area in the middle of the basin, eroding along the vertical joints of the rock strata to form deep trenches with upright walls, called lane valleys, which belong to the infancy of Danxia landforms;

Then, when the flowing water could not completely remove the colluvial deposits at the foot of the valley cliff, a colluvial cone with a gentle slope was formed. As the gully wall collapsed and retreated, the colluvial cone continued to grow upward, and the area covered by the bedrock surface also continued to expand. The bedrock below the colluvial cone formed a gentle slope in the same direction as the colluvial cone. The collapse and retreat of the cliff surface also caused the mountain top surface to gradually shrink, forming landforms such as fort-like residual peaks, stone walls or stone pillars. This belongs to the middle age of Danxia landform;

Subsequently, with further water erosion, collapse and wind erosion, the fort-like residual peaks, stone walls and stone pillars that had been formed were further fragmented, the gentle slope of the mountaintop completely disappeared, and the fort-like residual peaks were fragmented into stone walls and stone pillars, which gradually became shorter and smaller in size. At this stage, the gentle slope at the foot of the cliff was very large, and the square mountains and rock peaks surrounded by steep cliffs on the gentle slopes had evolved into scattered residual peaks, residual pillars and residual piles. At this time, the Danxia landform has entered its twilight years and is in its old age;

Finally, with the continuous uplift of the red layer and further water erosion, collapse and wind erosion, the scattered residual peaks, pillars and piles became shorter and smaller until they disappeared completely, forming quasi-plain gently sloping hills. At this stage, the Danxia landform in the true sense has disappeared, and it belongs to the Danxia landform in the extinction period.

Colorful Danxia Scenic Area of ​​Zhangye Danxia National Geopark

Image source: Xinhuanet

In fact, Danxia landforms in different regions or in the same region may have undergone different evolutionary processes, resulting in different characteristics of Danxia landforms in different regions or in the same region.

The formation of Danxia landform has gone through a geological history of millions of years. It is a non-repeatable and non-renewable geological relic. After being damaged by human beings, it will accelerate weathering and water erosion. It has a long natural recovery period and is difficult to repair. It is similar to the existing paleontological fossils. If stepped on by someone, the clastic rocks distributed on the surface will be easily destroyed. A footprint left on the surface will take decades or even longer to return to its original appearance.

From the formation conditions and evolution process of the Danxia landform mentioned above, it can be seen that its formation and preservation time can span from thousands to millions of years, and the formation conditions are very harsh. This is also the reason why a group of tourists wantonly destroyed the landform to shoot a video recently, which made industry experts feel sad and caused severe condemnation from the whole society.

Various landforms are valuable resources of our country, adding color to our tourism and other industries. However, the willful destruction of related landforms will cause irreparable losses. This kind of "personalized" behavior neither takes into account one's own safety nor considers the consequences of damaging the natural geological relics in the scenic area. We must resolutely say no to this.

Some netizens do not think that carving a word or stepping on something is a big deal. Having such an idea is a big mistake.

Article 44 of the Regulations on Scenic Spots (2016 Revision) clearly states:

Anyone who, in violation of the provisions of these Regulations, scratches, defaces or litters in a scenic area shall be ordered by the scenic area management agency to restore the original state or take other remedial measures and shall be fined RMB 50; anyone who scratches, defaces or otherwise intentionally damages cultural relics or scenic spots and historic sites under state protection shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law on Administrative Punishments for Public Security; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

According to Article 63 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China:

Anyone who commits any of the following acts shall be given a warning or a fine of no more than RMB 200; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days and fined not less than RMB 200 but not more than RMB 500:

(1) Carving, defacing or otherwise intentionally damaging cultural relics or scenic spots and historic sites under State protection;

(2) Violating State regulations by carrying out activities such as blasting and excavation near sites protected for cultural relics, thereby endangering the safety of cultural relics.

According to Article 324 of the Criminal Law:

Whoever intentionally damages precious cultural relics under state protection or cultural relics designated as key cultural relics protection sites at the national level or provincial level shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall be fined or fined alone; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall be fined.

Whoever intentionally damages national protected scenic spots and historical sites shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall be fined or fined alone.

Whoever negligently damages precious cultural relics under state protection or cultural relics designated as key cultural relics protection sites at the national level or provincial level, causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

The formation and continuation of each tourist attraction requires careful protection by every generation of tourists.

Here, we loudly call for:

Please stop destroying the scenic area!

Any scenic spot

Tourists who behave in this way are not welcome!

Comprehensive sources: Xinhuanet, People's Daily, Science Times, etc.