Fengcong, fenglin, cone karst and tower karst

Fengcong and fenglin are the two major types of karst terrain as defined in Chinese literature. They correlate only loosely with the Western terms of cone and tower karst respectively. With its isolated towers rising from a karst plain, fenglin is the most extreme form of karst landscape, and much of it may evolve from fengcong where tectonic uplift is critically slow, but overall it appears to be polygenetic. It is suggested that fengcong and fenglin are more useful karst terms with genetic implications and should take precedence, while cones and towers should be used purely as descriptive terms.