Qingshui Cliff () is a 21 kilometer length of coastal cliffs averaging 800 meters above sea level in Xiulin Township,

Hualien County Hualien () is a County (Taiwan), county on the east coast of Taiwan. It is Taiwan's largest county by area, yet due to its mountainous terrain, has one of the lowest populations in the country. The county seat and largest city is Hualien City. Hu ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The tallest peak, Qingshui Mountain, rises 2408 meters directly from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The cliff is located at the southern part of the Suhua Highway that connects the counties of

Yilan Yilan may refer to: China * Yilan County, Heilongjiang (依兰县), county of central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China * Yilan Town, Heilongjiang (依兰镇), seat of Yilan County * Yilan, Jilin (依兰镇), town in Yanji Taiwan ...

and Hualien in eastern

. It is considered to be a very scenic area and is the highest coastal cliff in Taiwan. It is located within

Taroko National Park Taroko National Park () is one of the nine wonders in Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park carved by the Liwu River. The park spans Taichung Municipality, Nantou County, and Hualien County and is located ...

Geology

The formation of the Qingshui Cliff was caused by the orogenic movement, with the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate forming a fault line. The outcropping above sea level is composed of metamorphosed limestone

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

, and green

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

, and is classified as a metamorphic complex area of Dananao on the geological map. Because there are very few coastal cliffs in the world that exhibit such a great elevation drop, the natural landscape of "high cliff valley" makes Qingshui cliff a rare coastal cliff. The coast of the Qingshui Cliff is continually beaten and eroded by the sea water of the Pacific Ocean, and the rock walls on it are subject to natural forces such as earthquakes and typhoons. The beaches below are full of different sizes of marble stones, from giant boulders to grains of sand.

Political disputes

The depiction of Qingshui Cliff is featured in the newly issued passport of the People's Republic of China in 2012, a move that triggered protest from

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Biogeographic significance

Qingshui Cliff can act as a dispersal barrier. It separates the eastern and western

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

s of brown tree frog ('' Buergeria robusta'') as well as two

sibling species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

of '' Takydromus'' lizards, '' T. viridipunctatus'' and '' T. luyeanus''. In the latter case, the separation occurs over a single river, the Liwu River.

Transportation

Qingshui Cliff is accessible southwest from Heren Station of the Taiwan Railways. On April 2, 2021, a ''Taroko Express'' train derailed at the entrance of Daqingshui Tunnel near the cliffs after it collided with a truck that rolled down onto the tracks, killing at least 51.

Gallery

File:蘇花公路清水斷崖 - panoramio.jpg File:清水斷崖（崇德休憩據點）.jpg

References