Phu Kradueng (), is a high mountain in Loei Province,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. It is in Phu Kradueng District, giving its name to the district. Its west side borders Nam Nao District of

Phetchabun Province Phetchabun (, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat'') and lies in lower northern Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Loei, Khon Kaen, Chaiyaphum, Lopburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit and Phitsanulok. ...

. This mountain is part of the

Phetchabun Mountains The Phetchabun mountains (, , ) are a mountain massif in Phetchabun Province, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok Province, Phitsanulok, Loei Province, Loei and Chaiyaphum Provinces, Thailand. It consists of two parallel mountain chains, with the valley of th ...

, a massif forming a natural boundary between North Thailand and

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

. Phu Kradueng rises nine kilometres west of Highway 201.

Description

The name of the mountain comes stems from its silhouette looks like a large

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

(; ''kradueng''). There is also a local legend that a mysterious bell sound, believed to be the bell of

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

, can be heard in the area of the mountain. Phu Kradueng seen from above is heart-shaped. It has a relatively flat plain on its top, sloping slightly to the north. The summit, in the southwestern part of the plateau, is inconspicuous. The western, southern, and eastern edges of the mountain have a fairly regular shape and are formed by abrupt sandstone cliffs, while the northwestern corner is deeply indented, containing a number of streams and seasonal

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s. Geologically, Phu Kradueng is formed by

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. Large parts of the mountain are covered in mixed

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zo ...

. At the base of the mountain

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

Dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

forest dominates. Dry evergreen forest follow hill evergreen forests with

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

clumps at higher altitudes. There are wide stretches of grasslands mixed with

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

s at the top.

Protected area

Phu Kradueng National Park Phu Kradueng National Park (), in the Si Than sub-district of Amphoe Phu Kradueng, Loei Province, is a national park in Thailand. It has a high point of 1,316 m (4318 ft) elevation at Khok Moei. It was proclaimed a national park on 2 ...

is in the area around the mountain. Average daily temperature is 20 °C in the daytime. Between December and January, the nightly temperature can sink to 0 °C. The mountaintop is covered in mist both during the

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

as well as during the cooler months. The park is closed to visitors during the rainy season (1 June - 30 September).Phu Kradung Mountain
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References

External links

Thai geography: Isan northern and eastern riparian belt

{{commons category, Phu Kradueng National Park Geography of Loei province Mountains of Thailand Phetchabun Mountains

Description

Protected area

See also

References

External links