Mount Tai Global Geopark

Mount Tai Global Geopark

Mount Tai Global Geopark is located within Tai’an City, Shandong Province, China. Its southern foothills start from Tai’an City and extend northward to Jinan City, spanning a distance of approximately 60 kilometers. The geopark covers an area of 15,866 km² and lies in the western part of the tectonically active zone on the eastern continental margin of China, situated within the Luxi Uplift Block of the Western Shandong Block on the North China Platform. It is a secondary tectonic unit of the North China Platform. Major scenic spots include the Red Gate, Zhongtianmen, Nantianmen, Taohuayu, Houshiwu, Lotus Mountain, Culai Mountain, and Taoshan areas. In September 2006, Mount Tai was approved by UNESCO as a Global Geopark.

Mount Tai Global Geopark is situated east of the North China Plain, west of the Yishu Fault Zone, and south of the Qihe–Guangrao Fault in the Luxi region. It forms an important part of the Mesozoic uplift block of Mount Tai in Luxi and is a secondary tectonic unit of the North China Platform.

The terrain of Mount Tai Global Geopark exhibits significant elevation differences and dramatic landform undulations. Overall, it features higher elevations in the north and west, and lower in the south and east. The main peak, Yuhuangding, stands at an altitude of 1,545 meters, with a relative height difference of over 1,300 meters from the mountain’s foreland plain within a horizontal distance of less than 10 kilometers.

The landforms of Mount Tai Global Geopark are distinctly divided, with a wide variety of types, and erosion landforms are highly developed. The landforms of Mount Tai can be categorized into four types: eroded structural medium-high mountains, eroded structural low mountains, eroded hills, and piedmont alluvial-proluvial terraces. Spatially, they create a layered and towering landscape, while their overall majestic appearance and diverse combinations of terrain types form a rich and varied scenic panorama.

Geology

Mount Tai Global Geopark is an area where the basement and sedimentary cover of the North China Platform are well and typically exposed. The basement consists of ancient “Tai’an Complex,” while the sedimentary cover includes Paleozoic Cambrian–Ordovician limestone and shale, which are in angular unconformable contact. From south to north, the strata are distributed from old to new, forming a monoclinal fault-block mountain range that is steep in the south and gentle in the north. There is clear evidence of multiple periods of magmatic activity, tectonic deformation, and metamorphism from the Archean to Paleoproterozoic, which have altered the crystalline basement rock series to varying degrees. The region has complex geological structures, including those from the Archean to Paleoproterozoic and the Mesozoic, with widespread and intense neotectonic movements. The brittle fractures from the Mesozoic and neotectonic movements controlled the formation of Mount Tai and shaped its distinctive landform features.

Climate

Mount Tai Global Geopark has a temperate monsoon climate. The annual average temperature at the summit is 5.3°C, 7.5°C lower than that of Tai’an City at the mountain’s base. The annual average precipitation is 1,124.6 mm, about 1.5 times that of the foothills. The seasons are distinct at the base, while spring and autumn blend together on the mountain. Winters are long, with an ice period of up to 150 days. The lowest temperature at the summit can reach -27.5°C, making it conducive to the formation of stunning rime and glaze frost phenomena.

Hydrology

Mount Tai Global Geopark is rich in springs and crisscrossed by streams, with a total water resource reserve of 20.92 million m³, including 16.08 million m³ of groundwater and 13.01 million m³ of surface water. Streams use Yuhuangding as a watershed: to the north, the Yufu River and Dasha River flow into the Yellow River; to the east, the Shiwen River and Fengjiazhuang River; to the south, the Shuliu River and Naihe River; and to the west, the Panwen River—all of which flow into the Dawen River.

The Mount Tai Geopark Museum is located on the north side of Yu Hua Dao Yuan at Dai Temple at the foot of Mount Tai in Tai’an City. Covering an area of 6,000 square meters, with an exhibition space of 760 square meters, it was completed and opened to visitors in October 2005, and is an important component of Mount Tai Global Geopark.

Mount Tai Global Geopark

Address: No. 501, Dongyue Street, Tai’an City, Shandong Province

Phone: +86-538-5369666

+86-538-5369111