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百万年前，青藏高原隆起，地球历史上此一重大地壳运动形成了中国的地貌。从空中俯瞰中国大地，地势就像阶梯一样，自西向东，逐渐下降。受印度板块与欧亚板块的撞击，青藏高原不断隆起，平均海拔4000米以上，号称“世界屋脊”,构成了中国地形的第一阶梯。青藏高原上的喜马拉雅山主峰珠穆朗玛峰高达8848米，是世界第一高峰。第二阶梯由内蒙古高原、黄土高原、云贵高原和塔里木盆地、准噶尔盆地、四川盆地组成，海拔在1000米至2000米之间。跨过第二阶梯东缘的大兴安岭、太行山、巫山和雪峰山，向东直达海岸是第三阶梯，此阶梯地势下降到海拔500米至1000米以下，自北向南分布着东北平原、华北平原、长江中下游平原，平原的边缘镶嵌着低山和丘陵。再向东为中国大陆架浅海区，也就 |
| 是第四级阶梯，水深大都不足200米。山地、丘陵和高原占中国领土面积的65%。 |
| China’s topography was completely formed around the emergence of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the most important geological event over the past several million years. Taking a bird’s-eye view of China, the terrain gradually descends from west to east like a staircase. Due to the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, the young Qinghai-Tibet Plateau rose continuously to become the top of the four-step “staircase,” averaging more than 4,000 m above sea level,
and it is called "the roof of the world".
Soaring 8,848 m above sea level on the plateau, Mt. Qomolangma is the world’s highest peak and the main peak of the Himalayas.
The second step includes the |
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| gently sloping Inner Mongolia Plateau, the Loess Plateau, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Junggar Basin and the Sichuan Basin, with an average elevation of between 1,000 m and 2,000 m. The third step, dropping to 500-1,000 m in elevation, begins at a line drawn around the Greater Hinggan, Taihang, Wushan and Xuefeng mountain ranges and extends eastward to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Here, from north to south, are the Northeast Plain, the North China Plain and the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain. Interspersed amongst the plains are hills and foothills. To the east, the land extends out into the ocean, in a continental shelf, the fourth step of the staircase. The water here is less than 200 m deep. The area of mountains and hills and plateaus account for 65 percent of the total land area of China. |
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