Yehliu Geopark

Yehliu Geopark

Yehliu Geopark is located on Jijin Highway, about 15 kilometers northwest of Keelung City in Taiwan Province. It is a protruding cape (part of the Datun Mountain Range) that juts out from the sea. From a distance, it resembles a sea turtle slowly crawling away from the shore, lifting its head and arching its back as it swims. Hence, it is also known as Yehliu Turtle. Influenced by orogenic movements, deeply buried sedimentary rocks rose to the surface, resulting in nearby coastal landforms such as hogback hills, sea cliffs, and sea caves. The effects of sea erosion and wind erosion on rock layers of varying hardness have created world-class geological formations including honeycomb rocks, tofu rocks, mushroom rocks, ginger rocks, and weathering windows.

Yehliu is a protruding cape approximately 1,700 meters long. Due to wave erosion, rock weathering, and crustal movements, it features a variety of unique landscapes such as sea erosion channels, candle-shaped rocks, mushroom rocks, tofu rocks, honeycomb rocks, potholes, and solution pans. The "Queen's Head," "Fairy's Shoe," and "Candlestick Rock" are particularly famous sea erosion wonders known both in Taiwan and abroad. Within the area, the statue of Lin Tian-Chen commemorates his heroic act of sacrificing his life to save others. The accompanying monument details this moving story. Yehliu Village’s Ocean World is the first marine animal performance venue in the country, featuring lively performances by dolphins, sea lions, spectacular high-diving and synchronized swimming shows, and an approximately 100-meter-long underwater tunnel where visitors can admire a variety of rare fish species (provided by Yehliu Ocean World). The “flame” of the Candlestick Rock is actually a hard, spherical concretion within the rock layer. More resistant to sea erosion, its conical tip remains exposed. As seawater flows back and swirls along its edges, it creates ring-shaped grooves. Since the concretion is surrounded by a tough ring, the water erodes and cuts downward along this ring, forming its distinctive conical shape.