Hong Kong Landscapes: Shaping the Barren Rock

Front Cover
Hong Kong University Press, Oct 1, 2007 - Science - 264 pages
Hong Kong has a largely mountainous terrain, very little flat land, no major rivers, no great forests, and a paucity of mineral wealth. The relative poverty of the place led the British Foreign Secretary to remark, in 1841, that Hong Kong was a "barren rock with hardly a house upon it". Prior to that date, the rugged landscape of Hong Kong had evolved, with little human interference, over about 400 million years. Subsequently, large influxes of people and their farming, building, reclamation, and economic activities have markedly transformed that original landscape. This book explains, in simple terms and with numerous photographs and figures, the origins of these varied landscapes, examining the contributions of different rocks, geological structures, and modern processes, as well as the profound impact of people.
 

Contents

An Environmental History
7
A Story of Ancient Volcanic Eruptions
13
The Roots of Volcanoes
21
Fractured Rocks and Rivers
33
Cliffs Beaches and Mud Flats
41
Hong Kong Regions
47
The Northeastern New Territories
67
The Western New Territories
84
The Eastern New Territories
131
Lantau Island
149
Kowloon and the Lion Rock Ridge
173
Hong Kong Island and Lamma
189
Seas and Islands
207
67
214
Landscapes Past Present and Future
230
68
242

The Central New Territories
101
The Southeastern New Territories
119

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2007)

GEO

Bibliographic information