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KHINGAN
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KHINGAN , two ranges of mountains in eastern See also:Asia. (I) See also:GREAT KI11NGAN is the eastern border See also:ridge of the immense See also:plateau which may be traced from the See also:Himalaya to See also:Bering Strait and from the Tian-shan Mountains to the Khingan Mountains. It is well known from 50° N. to See also:Kalgan (41° N., 115° E.), where it is crossed by the See also:highway from See also:Urga to See also:Peking. As a border ridge of the Mongolian plateau, it possesses very great orographical importance, in that it is an important See also:climatic boundary, and constitutes the western limits of the Manchurian See also:flora. The See also:base of its western slope, which is very See also:gentle, lies at altitudes of 3000 to 3500 ft. Its See also:crest rises to 4800 to 6500 ft., but its eastern slope sinks very precipitately to the plains of See also:Manchuria, which have only 1500 to 2000 ft. of See also:altitude. On this stretch one or two subordinate ridges, parallel to the See also:main range and separated from it by See also:longitudinal valleys, fringe its eastern slope, thus marking two different terraces and giving to the whole See also:system a width of from 8o to See also:loo m. Basalts, trachytes and other volcanic formations are found in the mainrange and on its See also:south-eastern slopes. The range was in volcanic activity in 1720--1721. South-See also:west of Peking the Great Khingan is continued by the In-shan mountains, which exhibit similar features to those of the Great Khingan, and represent the same terraced escarpment of the Monggolian plateau. Moreover, it appears from the See also:map of the See also:Russian See also:General See also:Staff (surveys of Skassi, V. A. Obruchev, G. N. Potanin, &c.) that similar See also:terrace-shaped escarpments—but consider-ably wider apart than in Manchuria—occur in the Shan-si See also:province of See also:China, along the See also:southern border of the South Mongolian plateau. These escarpments are pierced by the Yellow See also:River or Hwang-ho south of the Great See also:Wall, between 38° and 390 N., and in all See also:probability a border range homologous to the Great Khingan separates the upper tributaries of the Hwang-ho (namely the Tan-ho) from those of the Yang-tsze-kiang. But according to Obruchev the escarpments of the Wei-tsi-shan and Lu-huang-lin, by which southern Ordos drops towards the Wei-ho (tributary of the Hwang-ho), can hardly be taken as corresponding to the Kalgan escarpment. They fall with gentle slopes only towards the high plains on the south of them, while a steep descent towards the See also:low See also:plain seems to exist further south only, between 32 ° and 34 °. Thus the southern continuations of the Great Khingan, south of 38 ° N., possibly consist of two See also:separate escarpments. At its See also:northern end the See also:place where the Great Khingan is pierced by the See also:Amur has not been ascertained by See also:direct observation. See also:Prince P. See also:Kropotkin considers that the upper Amur emerges from the high plateau and its border-ridge, the Khingan, below Albazin and above Kumara.' If this view prevail—See also:Petermann has adopted it for his map of Asia, and it has been upheld in all the See also:Gotha publications—it would appear that the Great Khingan joins the Stanovoi ridge or Jukjur, in that portion of it which faces the west See also:coast of the See also:Sea of See also:Okhotsk. At any See also:rate the Khingan, separating the Mongolian plateau from the much See also:lower plains of the Sungari and the Nonni, is one of the most important orographical dividing-lines in Asia. See Semenov's See also:Geographical See also:Dictionary (in Russian) ; D. V. Putiata, Expedition to the Khingan in 1891 (St See also:Petersburg, 1893); Potanin, " See also:Journey to the Khingan," in Izvestia Russ. Geog. See also:Soc. (1901). (2) The name LITTLE KHINGAN is applied indiscriminately to two distinct See also:mountain ranges. The proper application of the See also:term would be to reserve it for the typical range which the Amur pierces 40 M. below Ekaterino-Nikolsk (on the Amur), and which is also known as the Bureya mountains, and as Dusse-See also:alin. This range, which may be traced from the Amur to the Sea of Okhotsk, seems to be cleft twice by the Sungari and to be continued under different See also:local names in the same south-See also:westerly direction to the See also:peninsula of Liao-tung in Manchuria. The other range to which the name of Little Khingan is applied is that of the Ilkhuri-alin mountains (51° N., 122°–126° E.), which run inanorth-westerly direction between the upper Nonni and the Amur, west of See also:Blagovyeshchensk. (P. A. K.; J. T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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