Taishan UNESCO Global Geopark

Taishan UNESCO Global Geopark, located in the Midwest of Shandong province, stands in the east of the North China plain. This UNESCO Global Geopark is situated to the north of Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, and to the east of the Yellow River. Mount Taishan stands high among a group of mountains in the Shandong province, and has breath-taking scenery.

The geoheritage in Taishan UNESCO Global Geopark is very abundant and has always attracted attention from domestic and international geologists. The Taishan Group-Complex of basic igneous rocks characterized by Komatiite and Precambrian multiphase intrusive rocks (formed 2.73 Ga-1.8 Ga ago), a typical Cambrian section, neotectonic movement and distinct landforms are of great geological significance both in China and other countries. Mount Taishan is a typical area for studying the Archean-Proterozoic geology, revealing the evolutionary history of granite-greenstone belt formation, and it is also a window for exploring the splitting, converging and jointing mechanisms and Earth dynamic process of Archean-Proterozoic continental crust in East China. The Cambrian rock record, one of the oldest in the park, provides type examples for geologists that study regional and international age correlations for the Cambrian Period (540 to 490 million years ago). A type section of the Cambrian geology located in Zhangxia county is fully integrated in the park, allowing visitors to walk through geologic time, the entire rock stratum revealing abundant well-exposed trilobite fossils and other ancient creatures in outstanding condition. The neotectonic movement also played an import role in the formation of Mount Taishan and gave the landscape its dramatic relief.