Natural Environment of Yingde City

Issued by: Yingde Municipal People's Government Portal Issued on: August 15, 2023

[Land resources] Yingde is the largest county-level administrative region in Guangdong Province. The total area of the city is 5634 square kilometers, including 911.09 square kilometers of cultivated land, accounting for 16.2% of the total area; The garden area is 111.48 square kilometers, accounting for 2%; Forest land is 3779.82 square kilometers, accounting for 67.1%; Other agricultural land is 209.02 square kilometers, accounting for 3.7%; The residential area and independent industrial and mining land is 260.46 square kilometers, accounting for 4.6%; Land for transportation is 40.57 square kilometers, accounting for 0.7%; The land for water conservancy facilities is 32.2 square kilometers, accounting for 0.6%; The unused land is 155.84 square kilometers, accounting for 2.8%; Other land covers 133.73 square kilometers, accounting for 2.4%.

[Water resources] The water source within the territory of surface water mainly depends on surface water, and the main factor of surface runoff is precipitation. The average annual precipitation of the city is 1900 mm. The precipitation increases gradually from east to west, with a difference of about 100mm. The precipitation process is concentrated in April September. The precipitation is 1524.2 mm, accounting for 80.2% of the annual precipitation. The precipitation from April to June is 921.7 mm, accounting for 48.5% of the annual precipitation. In Beijiang, the catchment area above the southern end of the city is 34000 square kilometers, and the average annual runoff is 15.58 billion cubic meters, of which 11.58 billion cubic meters are in flood season, accounting for 74.3% of the whole year. The river has a catchment area of 1289.5 square kilometers and an average annual runoff of 4.98 billion cubic meters, including 3.95 billion cubic meters in flood season, accounting for 79.3% of the whole year. Lianjiang River has a rainfall collection area of 2572.4 square kilometers and an average annual runoff of 10.34 billion cubic meters, of which 8.404 billion cubic meters in flood season, accounting for 81.3% of the whole year.

The source of Yingde surface water is mainly the surface runoff formed by precipitation. The surface runoff in karst areas is less than that in non karst areas, of which the types of eroded low mountains, high hills, peak cluster depressions are the least. Only in the rainy season can a small amount of surface runoff be generated. The average surface runoff depth of the city is 1149.9 mm. Due to the influence of geology, landform and vegetation, the runoff depth is different. The southern and northwestern hills and mountains have deeper runoff than the eastern hills, platforms and plains. From Lixi Town to Lianjiangkou Town, from south to north, the runoff depth is 1300~1500 mm; Boluo Town runs from north to south, with a runoff depth of 1200~1300 mm; The runoff depth in other areas is generally 1000~1100mm.

The Yingde karst area is short of surface runoff, but the underground water is abundant. The underground water in non karst areas also has certain reserves, which can be used as a supplementary source of surface runoff. According to hydrogeological data, Yingde groundwater is generally divided into three types, namely, loose rock pore water, carbonate rock fissure karst cave water and bedrock fissure water.

Loose rock pore water is mainly distributed in terraces on both banks of Beijiang River, Wujiang River and Lianjiang River, as well as basins (valleys) such as Shigutang, Hengshitang and Dazhen. The carbonate rock fissure cave water is mainly distributed in the limestone areas of Boluo, Shakou, Shihuipu, Dawan Town Qingkeng, Baguang Town Zhangpi, Jiulong, Huanghua, etc. Bedrock fissure water is mainly distributed in the northern, eastern and southeastern mountains, and its water yield is greatly affected by lithology and vegetation. According to relevant geological data, only the hidden karst water from Hengshitang Town to Yingde Basin (plain and hilly land) can exploit 350500 m3/day of resources. There are four hot spring resources, namely Wangbu Town Hot Spring, Hengshitang Town Hot Lake Hot Spring, Baisha Town Huiying Hot Spring and Shuibian Town Hot Spring.

The river bed in the hydraulic power sector has a large drop and rapid flow. The theoretical reserve of hydropower resources is 450000 kilowatts, of which about 350000 kilowatts can be developed. Agricultural irrigation mainly depends on surface water.  

[Forest resources] Yingde City is located in the transition zone from the south subtropical zone to the middle subtropical zone, with vast territory and complex terrain. The north is dominated by middle and low mountain landforms, and a large area of natural broad-leaved forest is preserved; The southern mountains and hills are dominated by artificially cultivated and transformed broad-leaved forests; In the east and middle part, there are many artificial coniferous forests, such as pine and Chinese fir; The production conditions of forest land are poor in limestone mountainous areas in the west. Due to the complexity and diversity of landforms, climates and soils, an ecosystem of coexistence of animals and plants dominated by forests has been formed. According to the survey data in 2017, there are more than 300 families, more than 980 genera and more than 2200 kinds of higher plants, including 19 kinds of national first-class and second-class protected plants, such as Alsophila spinulosa, sightseeing wood, and Suihua fir. There are 629 ancient and famous trees, including 8 under primary protection, 29 under secondary protection and 592 under tertiary protection.

Yingde City has 5.6903 million mu of forest land, accounting for 67.3% of the total area of the city, including 4899100 mu of forest land, 69.14% of forest coverage, 22.2878 million cubic meters of standing trees, 9620.26 million cubic meters of annual growth of trees, and 5560.81 million cubic meters of annual consumption of forest resources.

[Mineral resources] Yingde has superior metallogenic geological conditions and rich mineral resources. 37 kinds of minerals have been found in the city, mainly including sulfur, iron, coal, manganese, lead, zinc, tungsten, tin, copper, gold, rare earth, limestone, marble, granite, etc. The larger reserves include more than 80 million tons of pyrite, more than 30 million tons of iron ore, 130 million tons of coal mines, 1 billion cubic meters of marble and granite, more than 800000 mu of limestone, as well as copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, tin, gold, silver, molybdenum Bismuth, peat soil, rare earth, refractory clay, cement proportioning clay, quartz, placer, silica, barite, fluorite, quartz, etc.

[Animal Resources] Yingde is located in a mountainous area, with rich terrestrial animal resources, which are mainly distributed in Shimentai Provincial Nature Reserve. According to the Comprehensive Scientific Investigation Report of Shimentai Nature Reserve in Guangdong, 301 species of vertebrates were found in the area, including 14 species of amphibians, 14 species of reptiles, 4 species of mammals, and 228 species of birds. Among vertebrates, there are 6 species of yellow bellied pheasants, clouded leopards, leopards, golden eagles, ironhead snakes and pythons under the first level national protection, and 45 species of pangolins, civet cats, spotted civet cats and collared owls under the second level national protection. 456 species of insects have been identified, including 135 species of insect butterflies, which mainly represent the diversity of ecological environment. There are various kinds of valuable fishes in river fishes and aquatic animals, such as eel (eel), shad (sanli), fish bone fish lip flower (heavy lipped fish), fish bone fish salted fish, Chinese croaker, red eyed crocodile, Changchun bream, triangular bream, yellow catfish, catfish, mandarin fish (mandarin fish), and perch. The aquatic animals in rivers include snails and shellfish, and the rare turtles include turtles (water fishes), protected aquatic animals Tortoise (Grade I) and Shanrui (Grade II). In the mid-1970s, a large turtle with a weight of more than 40 kg and a large turtle with a weight of more than 30 kg were captured in the Changhu Reservoir and Lianjiangkou reach, respectively; In July 1993, another 36.5kg turtle was captured in the Shakou River. As rivers are polluted by industrial waste water, electricity, poison and fish explosion are serious. The number of river fish is decreasing day by day, and some fish are even on the verge of extinction. To this end, the government has taken measures and released fish fry in some river sections.