Zigong UNESCO Global Geopark is located in Zigong City, Sichuan Province, China, Asia Pacific Region. The Geopark area is part of the Ziliujing subduction, part of the Sichuan Convergence on the Yangtze platform. It is connected to the southern margin of the Weiyuan-Longnvsi uplift in the north, the southern lower Sichuan folded belt in the southeast, and the lower Liangshan folded belt in the southwest.
Geological heritage
The geological heritage in the Zigong UNESCO Global Geopark is dominated by the extremely abundant fossils of dinosaurs and other vertebrates, a typical part of the Jurassic, and the natural and cultural heritage related to salt production. Most of this geological heritage is of national and international importance for scientific research. The Geopark’s extensive exposures of Jurassic terrestrial strata revealed a large number of dinosaur and other vertebrate bones, constituting a large-scale burial society. The Zigong UNESCO Global Geopark is also rich in salt mines, with a production history of about two thousand years. A wide variety of salt industry remains well preserved.
The main protected sites of Zigong are the Dashanpu dinosaur fossil fauna, the geology of the salt mines and the remaining units of the related industry, as well as the other valuable natural resources and cultural and historical relics. During the history of the salt industry, Zigong people created ten important innovations, which are of great value to salt exploration, drilling technology, salt mine formation and salt distribution.
The Zigong UNESCO Global Geopark has three museums: the Dinosaur Museum, the Salt Industry History Museum and the Chinese Lantern Museum. It has also signed an agreement with local schools to create a “Centre for Geoscience Popular Education”. At the same time, it organizes popular activities on various scientific topics, with 200,000 participants. Having achieved global recognition, it created its own management organization, completed the general management plan (2010-2020) and took various protection measures for different types of geographical heritage, which provide a legal framework and help the further development of the geopark. Since 2008, local tourism has grown rapidly and GDP continues to grow. Zigong has succeeded in improving the structure of the local industry and realized a rapid increase in its economic, environmental and social benefits, while vigorously promoting social and economic development.
Twinning
The Zigong UNESCO Global Geopark, China and Lesvos Island UNESCO Global Geopark, Greece signed a cooperation agreement on September 25, 2017.
Read more on the official website: https://en.ziggeopark.com/
