This landscape is a representative sandstone landform found in the arid and windy climate zone of Tarim. It mainly consists of geomorphological features such as castle-shaped flat-topped mesas, stone walls, stone corridors and stone pillars (stone mushrooms), which formed in the parent rocks of the Lower Cretaceous riverine and lacustrine facies auburn-greyish green banded sandstone and mudstone due to wind erosion and intermittent water erosion. This landform was given its name because it was first discovered in Urho on the northwestern margin of the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang Province. It is also called the ‘Wind City Landform’ because the main features look like castles formed by wind erosion. This landscape is a potential tourism resource for further development.
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(2020). Urho-Type Wind-Eroded ‘Castle’ Landscape. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2650
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2650
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