The Expert Team for Zhangye Colorful Hills Natural Heritage Application Conducted A Field Research

The Colorful Hills Cultural Heritage application work is the focus of the Zhangye Municipal Party Committee and Government and the underpin for Colorful Hills to make a world-class Tourist Attraction.To accelerate the application preparation, an expert team led by ZHANG Jin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, doctoral supervisor, and director of the Structural Geology Research Office, and YANG Yan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, carried out a field research at Jiugequan, Colorful Hills, Binggou Danxia, and Yugur Customs Corridor from June 13 to 16.

On June 13, the expert team visited Wohu Gorge, Aohe, Earth Forest Valley, and the Platform 2 of Colorful Hills to research on plate tectonic movement, external climate impact, and the mechanism of the colorful Hills’ formation.

On June 14, the experts went to Tadungou and Shijuligou of Jiugequan to explore the plate suture zone, ophiolite suite, Qilian Mountain orogeny, multi-stage continental deformation superposition, and multi tectonic system superposition, further exploring the tectonic movement within the natural heritage application area.

On June 15, the team investigated the binggou Danxia and Yugur Customs Corridor for the geological structure characteristics and landscape genesis of Binggou Danxia and the plantation surface of Yugur Customs Corridor.

After the field research, a symposium was held to discuss the theme, focus, standards, characteristics, and boundary demarcation of Zhangye’s application, preliminarily amend the outline of the application materials, and determine three prominent significances of Zhangye’s heritage. They defined the geological tectonic movement of multi-structural system development, multi-stage continental deformation superposition, and multi-level deformation superposition as the main line of the scientific research and application material compilation.

This field research clarified the direction and the main task of heritage application, which laid a solid foundation for Zhangye Colorful Hills Natural Heritage Application.