Global Network of National Geoparks

Zigong Geopark in Sichuan Province Affiliates with GGN Newly

Source :http://www.globalgeopark.org Published :February 28, 2008

 

Zigong dinosaur museum, photo by Luo Tuanjie

Zigong Geopark has affiliated the GGN (Global Geoparks Network) officially after a field expedition and a strict review by the experts who were commissioned by UNESCO. So far 55 Geoparks in 17 Member States are currently members of the GGN assisted by UNESCO.

Zigong City is located in the southern part of Sichuan Province. It is situated to the west of Luzhou City, the north of Yibin City, the west of Leshan City and South of Neijiang. Zigong is about 200 km away from Chengdu City, the capital of Sichuan Province. The transportation of the Geopark is very convenient.

Zigong Geopark is rich in the Jurassic fossils, dominated by a large amount of the world-famous dinosaur fossils which are perfectly preserved in some major sites. Since 1915, about 200 vertebrate fossil sites have been discovered in Zigong area. The dinosaur fossils are dominated by prosauropods, sauropods, theropods, ornithopods and stegosaurs, the other vertebrate fossils include amphibians, testadines, crocodyliforms and pterosaurs, at least with more than 40 genera, 16 families, 11 orders and 5 classes, which almost cover all Jurassic terrestrial vertebrate taxa. Among them, there are 26 described dinosaur species in 20 genera, which take about 57% and 17% in the all discovered dinosaur species in Sichuan and China respectively. Therefore, Zigong Geopark is one of most important vertebrate fossil localities in the world. The abundant vertebrate fossils provide sufficient evidence for paleontological study.

Zigong well-salt production history museum, photo by Luo Tuanjie

Zigong City was originated from its well-salt production. It has been reputed as a "salt capital of nearly two thousand years" . In the well-salt production history, a lot of precious drilling, picking-up brine, decocting salt tools have been created and completely preserved, many relevant relics are remained.

Zigong is rich in brine, halite, natural gas, coal, limestone, molding sand and kaoline resources, the geological reserves of brine and halite are 5.0825 million tons and 914.03 million tons respectively. Zigong is one of major natural gas yielding areas in Sichuan, the proved gas reserve is 69.5 billion m3, and the remaining recoverable reserve is 2.795 billion m3. And the limestone reserve is up to 0.24 billion tons in Zigong area.