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Zanda Earthen Forests
The orogenic movement of the Himalaya has made the bottom of the lake ascend. And the undulating earthen forest of dozens of kilometers were formed by the flushing of water subsidence and long years of weathering. Walking in these narrow earthen forests seems like walking in the ruins of an ancient kingdom, desolate but magnificent.
Zhada, which means in Tibetan the place where there are grass in the lower reaches of river, is a County under the administration of Ngari Prefecture. Famous Toling Monastery and relic Guge Kingdom stand there. In the Zhada County, the clay forest standing on both sides of Elephant Spring River winding over more than five kilometers. Some clay are like the warrior defending the mountain top, some like thousands of horses galloping, and some like devout followers of a religion cultivating themselves, standing there quietly. From different view, you can get different wonderful scenery.
The clay forest is called in Geology the Level Terrane Physiognomy, which is formed by erosion of water. It is the sediment stratum of lakes and rivers, mainly composed by sandstone and clay. Because the Level Terrene is easy to develop its upright quality and the sandstone like flour is qualified with uprightness, the valley is deep. Even a canaliculus can reach 100 to 200 meters.
This peculiar and mystic physiognomy densely covers the whole Zhada County. During the Xiangxiong and Guge Kingdom, people made caves to live using this kind of natural resource. Now, more than 400 caves made by Tibetan forebears are found in the clay forest, which forms the old building group.
