Chongqing’s first national geopark featuring paleontological fossils - Chongqing Qijiang National Geological Park will be officially opened to public on April 28th. With an area of 100 square kilometers, there is enough space to showcase the wood fossils and dinosaur footprints. In the geopark, people can “Cross the Jurassic Period and Return to the Cretaceous Period”.
Laoying Mountain Park is the core scenic spot of Qijiang National Geological Park. It is located in the triangular town of Qijiang District with a planned area of ??52.1 square kilometers. Among the 9 rock layers, 656 palaeo vertebrates have been found, as well as the footprints of world’s largest ancient bird, China’s best preserved Hadrosaurus, and China’s largest number of Pterosaur.
The Cuiping Mountain Park is located in the eastern part of the new town of Qijiang City. The planned area is about 1.26 square kilometers. A large number of fossilized wood that represent 150 million years are shown in the park, of which the longest is 28.9 meters and the diameter is 1.1 meters. In addition, the Qijiang National Geological Park contains representative ancient fossils such as Guokr.
The Qijiang National Geological Park is dominated by Danxia landform which consists of red stones characterized by steep cliffs. Moreover, there are ancient trees and small streams. At present, more than 10 kilometers of sightseeing trails, a large number of resting viewing facilities, and rich interactive science and entertainment experience projects have been built in the scenic area. Chongqing has 10 geoparks, which have received a total of over 2 million visitors for the last three years.