The Gyeongju Basin is a

landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

city,

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a province in eastern South Korea, and with an area of , it is the largest province in the Korean peninsula. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remaine ...

province,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. It forms part of the watershed of the Hyeongsan River, which flows north through the basin where it is joined by the Bukcheon, Namcheon, Daecheon, and Sogyeon-cheon streams. The basin is surrounded by low

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s, most of which are also part of Gyeongju National Park. Specifically, it is bordered by Gowi Mountain (495 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

) on the south, Seondo Mountain (380 m) and Ongnyeo Peak (215 m) on the west, and Gumi Mountain (594 m) on the north. Namsan, a mountain composed of two peaks (466 m, 495 m), cuts the Gyeongju Basin into two parts at the southern end. The streams that flow from these mountains have formed a number of interlinked

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, bei ...

s in the Basin. The city center of Gyeongju, which was also the capital of the ancient

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

kingdom, occupies much of the basin. Various watershed management projects were undertaken even during Silla times, due to continuous

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing in the basin, caused by runoff from the neighboring mountains combined with inflow from the upper Hyeongsan River watershed. The most recent severe flood took place in 1991. The basin is also home to a great number of important

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n cultural heritage assets, mostly related to its ancient role as capital of Silla. For example, the royal

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

s of Silla are located there, as is the Gyerim

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. The slopes of the entire Namsan Mountain are covered in religious and ceremonial sites dating from the Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500-300 B.C.) to the end of the Korean Three Kingdoms (c. AD 668). Namsan and environs is registered as a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

is also undertaken on a significant scale within the basin. The crops are primary staples such as

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, and

soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source of f ...

. The Gyeongju strain of rice grown here is particularly famous for its quality. However, the Gyeongju Basin has undergone significant environmental strain since the 1970s resulting the construction of tourist facilities, the expansion and industrialization of urban Gyeongju, intensive agriculture, and the construction and use of national public infrastructure such as expressways, highways, and high-speed rail.

References

*Cho, Hwa-ryong. 1987. ''Hanguk-eui Chungjeok Pyeongya'' lluvial Plains of Korea Gyohak Yeongusa, Seoul. *Kang, Bong W. 2006. Large-scale Reservoir Construction and Political Centralization: A Case Study from Ancient Korea. ''Journal of Anthropological Research'' 62(2):193-?.

External links

Paper on the historical lessons of watershed management in the Gyeongju basin, delivered in 2002 by Professor Bong W. Kang of Kyongju University
Depressions (geology)

See also

References

External links