Bac Giang Province - Geography

Geography

Bắc Giang lies in the Red River Delta. It borders Quảng Ninh to the east, Lạng Sơn to the north, Thái Nguyên and the urban district of Sóc Sơn in the capital Hanoi to the west, and Bắc Ninh and Hải Dương to the south. It comprises three land forms namely, the lowland or delta land, the midland and the mountainous region. While the midland areas are in the districts of Hiệp Hoà and Việt Yên, and the city of Bắc Giang, the mountanous districts are the Sơn Động, Lục Ngạn, Yên Thế, Tan Yên, Yên Dũng and Lang Giang; the seven mountanous districts account for 72% of area of Bắc Giang province.

Of the total land area of the province, 123,000 hectares (300,000 acres) is agricultural land, 110,000 hectares (270,000 acres) is forest land, 66,500 hectares (164,000 acres) is residential and urban land and for other uses. The farmland in the province is good for intensive farming of rice, vegetable, and fruit crops, and bulb trees. There is scope for expanding land under forests. The produce from the forests has been estimated as 3,5 million m3 of wood and 500 million trees of bamboo and neohouzeaua.

Bắc Giang occupies an area of 3,827.45 square kilometres (1,477.79 sq mi), which is 1.2% of the area of the whole country. According to statistics from 2000, 32.4% of the land is used for agriculture, while 28.9% is used for forestry, industry or is otherwise uncleared. The remainder comprises mountains, unexploited waterways and land used for miscellaneous purposes. The province is 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Hanoi and has a good network of roads such as the National Highways No. 1A, 31 and 279. It has railway lines from Bắc Giang to Hanoi, Lạng Sơn, Thái Nguyên, and mineral areas in Quảng Ninh by train.

The terrain is moderately mountainous, lying between the high mountains to the north and the Red River Delta to the south. Although a large part of the terrain is mountainous most of it is not isolated. The region to the northern end of the province is mountainous uncleared forest. To the east and southeast of the province is Đông Triều and Mount Yên Tử, located within the Yên Tử Nature Reserve. The elevation of the province is mostly in the 300–900 metres (980–3,000 ft) range, with a maximum of 1,068 metres (3,504 ft) (Mount Yên Tử). To the northeastern end of the province, along the border with Quảng Ninh there is the Khe Rỗ forest, spanning 71.53 km 2, with a rich biodiversity.

Bắc Giang has a total of 347 km of rivers and springs, the three most prominent rivers are the Lục Nam, the Thương and the Cầu. Apart from waterways, Bắc Giang has many lakes, including Cấm Sơn Lake and Khuôn Thần Lake; the area covered by ponds, lakes and lagoons is 16,300 hectares (40,000 acres).Cấm Sơn Lake lies in the district of Lục Ngạn, which borders Lạng Sơn Province. It is 30 kilometres (19 mi) long and has a width varying from 200 metres (660 ft) up to 7 kilometres (4.3 mi). It has an area of 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi), but this can increase to 30 kilometres (19 mi) during monsoonal flooding. Khuôn Thần Lake has an area of 2.4 square kilometres (0.93 sq mi) and the centre of the lake has five small hilly islands surrounded by 20-year-old pine forests. Pedal and motor boating are both permitted on the lake. Ethnic minority hamlets are located on the shores of the lake. Approach route to the lake is from Bắc Ninh - 31 kilometres (19 mi)), then to Bắc Giang - 51 kilometres (32 mi)), further to the Hoà River - 98 kilometres (61 mi) and finally arrive at Cấm Sơn Lake. The highest flow in the Thương River is reported to be 64.4 m3/s and lowest flow is 12.9 m3/s.

Climate

The province has the dominant characteristics of the tropical, temperate climate zone of the Northern Plain. The temperature, humidity and rainfall vary over months and seasons. The climate in the province has been discerned in two distinct seasons - the hot, rainy season from May to September and the cold, dry season from November to March. The average temperature varies between 22–23 °C (72–73 °F); the maximum temperature recorded was 41 °C (106 °F) while the lowest temperature was 13 °C (55 °F). Humidity values are in the range of 73% to 87%. The average rainfall is reported to be 1,953 millimetres (76.9 in). The annual sunshine hours of 1,500 to 1,700 hours is good to grow tropical and subtropical trees. The average wind velocity is 2.1 metres (6.9 ft)/s and average atmosphere pressure 757.71 mmHg. Since the province is located away from Vietnam's eastern coast and the South China Sea (East Sea), the incidence of hurricanes and storms is rare though Whirlwind and hail storm are a localised phenomenon in a few mountainous districts.

Minerals

Bắc Giang had 63 registered mines in 2005 involved in mining 15 types of minerals such as coal, metal, industrial minerals, building materials. Important mines are the coal mines in Yên Thế, Lục Ngạn and Sơn Động districts, which have coal reserves of about 114 million tonnes (including anthracite, lean-coal, peat-coal); Dong Ri mine has 107.3 million tonnes that has potential for a large scale industrial development. Iron ore reserves (0,5 million tonnes) have been found in the Yên Thế district. Bronze ore reserves (100,000 tonnes) has been found in Lục Ngạn and Sơn Động districts. 3 million tonnes of Kaolin reserves estimated at 3 million tonnes has been located in Yên Dũng. Large reserves of clay (360 million m3) is concentrated in Việt Yên, Lang Giang, Lục Nam, Yên Thế, and Hiệp Hoà districts, about 100 m3 are used to make fire-bricks. Gravel and conglomerates are in Hiệp Hoà and Lục Nam districts.

Avifauna

A joint survey of the multi-taxa inventory conducted in the Bắc Giang Province by the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, New York (CBC-AMNH) and the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi (IEBR) has recorded 146 species of birds, including 61 species from Khau Ria and Mt Pu Tha Ca and 105 species from Mt Tay Con Linh.