Abstract: Watershed, as the most fundamental geomorphological unit, serves as a crucial natural geographic element for documenting the genesis and evolution of watersheds. The development and spatial traits of geoheritage within this specific domain can be manifested, and the interaction between watersheds and various natural geographic elements, with geoheritage being a part of it, has emerged as a cutting-edge focus in geoscientific research. In this study, the entire Guangxi Hongshui River Basin was selected as a paradigmatic research zone. Grounded on comprehensive and detailed field investigations, a spatial characterization of geological relics was conducted on a large basin scale, encompassing multiple types and a holistic perspective in terms of their distribution patterns, taxonomies, grades, as well as protection and utilization modalities. A quantitative analysis of the spatial characteristics of the geological relics within the Guangxi Hongshui River Basin was carried out, thereby furnishing a scientific underpinning for exploring the interaction between the evolution of the Hongshui River and the natural geological elements within the basin. This also contributes to promoting the construction of ecological civilization within the watershed and lays a foundation for rural revitalization. The research findings indicate that: 1) There are 93 exemplary geological relics within the basin, with the middle reaches harboring the highest number of such sites, followed by the lower reaches. The majority of the geological relics in the upper, middle, and lower reaches are situated above or in the vicinity of the main tributaries of the Hongshui River. Even those geological relics that are relatively distant from the main tributaries are often interconnected via underground rivers. 2) The geological relics within the basin can be classified into 6 major categories, 12 classes, and 16 subclasses. Among them, the geomorphic landscape major category is the most prolific, trailed by the water landscape major category. The rocky geomorphic landscape category (with karst landscape as the principal subcategory) and the river landscape category are concentrated in the middle and lower reaches, whereas the fluvial geomorphic landscape category and the lake landscape category are preponderant in the upper reaches and middle and lower reaches, respectively. 3) Nearly 60% of the basin's geological relics have attained the provincial level or above. The world-class and national-level geological relics are predominantly clustered in the middle reaches and exhibit a close spatial correlation with the main streams and tributaries of the Hongshui River. Concurrently, the higher the grade of the geological relics, the more pronounced the non-uniformity of their spatial characteristics. 4) The conditions for the protection and utilization of geological relics within the basin are generally favorable. The downstream geological relics possess the shortest average highway distance to the surrounding significant towns, the upstream exhibits the highest degree of compatibility with other tourism resources in the vicinity, and the middle and lower reaches have a relatively higher proportion of protected utilization.

Key words: geological relics, spatial characteristics, basin evolution, interaction, impact analysis, Hongshui River, Guangxi, China