NATURAL CONDITION

1. Geographical location

Bac Ninh lies in the Northern gateway to Hanoi capital, the center of the ancient Kinh Bac land which is scared with eminent people, laureate tradition, and a long – standing in cultural tradition. It shares the border with Bac Giang province in the North, with Ha Noi capital in the West and Southwest, with Hung Yen province in the South, and Hai Duong province in the East. It is the province with the smallest total natural area of the country (822.7 km2).

The province has 8 administrative units including Bac Ninh City, Tu Son Town and 6 districts (Tien Du, Yen Phong, Thuan Thanh, Que Vo, Gia Binh and Luong Tai) with 126 commune-level administrative units, among which, there are 94 communes, 26 wards and 6 townships.

Bac Ninh belongs to the Northern key economic zone with favorable transportation system connecting with regional provinces such as the 1A national highway linking with Ha Noi – Bac Ninh – Lang Son; the highway No.18 linking Noi Bai International Airport – Bac Ninh – Ha Long; national highway No. 38 conecting Bac Ninh – Hai Duong – Hai Phong; the cross – national railway system through Bac Ninh to Lang Son and China; the waterway of Cau River, Duong River and Thai Binh River which is favorable to connect Bac Ninh with the system of regional river ports and seaports, making Bac Ninh an open location going along with the development of Ha Noi capital towards constructing satellite cities and the industrial allocation of Ha Noi. Bac Ninh is also the Northeastern gateway and the bridge linking Ha Noi and the Northern midland and mountainous provinces and on the economic corridor of Nam Ninh – Lang Son – Ha Noi – Hai Phong – Ha Long.

2. Topography

Bac Ninh’s terrain is rather flat with the main slope from North to South and from West to East, which is reflected through the surface flows into Cau River, Duong River and Thai Binh River. The geological difference is not big, plain area often has popular height from 3 – 7 m, midland and mountainous land has common height of 300 – 400 m. Hill and mountain area takes up a small ratio (0.53%) compared to the total natural land area of the province, mainly allocated in Bac Ninh city, Tu Son town and Que Vo district. Mountaintop has popular height 60 – 100 m. The highest peak is Ban Co mountain (Bac Ninh city) with 171m, followed by Bu mountain (Que Vo district) with 103m, Phat Tich mountain (Tien Du district) with 84m and Thien Thai mountain (Gia Binh district) with 71m.

3. Climate

Bac Ninh lies within the monsoon tropical climate region which is clearly divided into four distinct seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. There is apparent difference in temperature between hot wet summer and cold dry winter. The temperature difference between the highest month and the lowest month reaches 15 - 16°C. Rainy season mainly starts from May to October. Bac Ninh’s average rainfall is about 1,500 mm but the precipitation is not evenly distributed throughout the year. The average temperature is 23.3°C. The total annual average sunny hours are about 1.530-1.776 hours. The average relative humidity of Bac Ninh is about 79%

4. Hydrology

Bac Ninh features a rather dense system of rivers and canals with high density of river network 1.0 – 1.2 km/km2. There are 3 large river systems include Duong river, Cau River and Thai Binh River.

Duong River : With the length of 42 km in Bac Ninh’s territory. Total average volume water is 31.6 million m3. The highest water level at Ho wharf in August 1945 is 9.64 m. Duong River has high content of alluvium, in rainy season, there is 2.8 kg alluvium in each 1 m3 of water averagely.

Cau River : Total length of this river is 290 km of which 70 km flows through Bac Ninh province, the annual water volume is approximately 5 billion m3. At Dap Cau, the highest water level is 8 m, the lowest water level is 0.5 – 0.8 m.

Thai Binh River: With the length of 385 km, the part flowing through Bac Ninh is 17 km, the annual water volume is approximately 35.95 billion m3. Because of most the riverbed is wide with little slope, shallow bottom.

Besides, Bac Ninh has inland river systems such as Ngu Huyen Khe river, Dau river, Boi river, Tao Khe river, Dong Khoi river, Dai Quang Binh river. Moreover, the underground water deposit is rather big, averagely 400,000 m3/day, the water containing layer is 3 – 5 m away from the ground on average with the depth of around 40 m, the water quality is good. All of this water deposit can be used for producing and living in the province.