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Geological Formations

Danxiashan

Sedimentary and Stratigraphic Formations

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Danxiashan is a mountainous area of red, layered sandstone terrain in Renhua County, Guangdong Province, China, and is the type locality after which the "Danxia" landform, seen worldwide including at Zhangye Danxia in Gansu, is named. It formed from a thick sequence of Cretaceous-age red sandstone and conglomerate deposited within an ancient inland basin, later uplifted by regional tectonic activity and carved by water and wind erosion into steep cliffs, gorges, natural bridges and isolated standing buttes. The vivid red coloration throughout the rock comes from iron oxide minerals within the sediment, and the site is the namesake component of the wider China Danxia UNESCO World Heritage property inscribed in 2010.

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