Research History, Hotspot and Future Direction of Danxia Landform on Loess Plateau of Northern Shaanxi Province

The Danxia landscape zone of the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi is the largest known Danxia landscape zone in China. Based on WOS, CNKI and other databases, this study comprehensively combed the research results of the past 35 years from 1989 to 2023, relying on CiteSpace 6.3.R1 software, constructed a visual knowledge map of the number of research literature, research institutions, research authors and research keywords, and systematically revealed the history of the research on Danxia landforms in the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi and its hotspots. The study found that: ① The research history of the Northern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province shows a gradual shift from the southwestern fringe region to the central region, and a gradual shift from piecemeal research or case studies to regional research.② There is less foreign literature overall, and the main focus is on the domestic literature. ③ More and more emphasis is being placed on the study of the Danxia geomorphology of the Northern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, but there is less cooperation between the research teams and the geographic regions. ④Early research was dominated by the Zhaojin Danxia on the edge of the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province, and more recently by the Yan'an Danxia landform, the Longzhou Danxia landform in Jingbian, and the Yucha Grand Canyon in Ganquan. ⑤The research content mainly focuses on "Classification of Danxia landforms", "Landscape characteristics", "Sedimentary environment", "Development mechanism" and so on. "and other hotspots.In order to further promote the scientific protection and rational development and utilization of Danxia landforms in the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi, the future directions should focus on strengthening quantitative research, in-depth revelation of the formation mechanism of Danxia landforms, strengthening the domestic and international comparisons, and synergistic promotion of protection and utilization.