Changbaishan North-Slope Forest Belt

On Changbaishan’s north slope, forest composition changes with elevation and exposure, from mixed forest and dark conifers to Erman’s birch and alpine tundra. Research on this landscape includes both plot studies of the treeline and long-term forest monitoring in Antu County.

Stories from This Place

Changbaishan Forests: Charcoal, Birch and Recovery

A 2025 study compares charred wood from two elevations with a separate peat-core record to trace Changbaishan’s vegetation history. Charcoal from a high-elevation site now in alpine tundra supports an inference of spruce forest before the 946 eruption. The evidence also records a long ecological recovery. Changbaishan’s upper forest varies by slope, while a long-term plot follows forest conditions in Antu.