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intermittent volcanic rocks along the coastal zone (Zhao and
Zhao
2009
). These constitute the third steppe.
The fourth level topography is the continental shelf of the
Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea
contiguous with the coastal plain of the mainland. The slope
of the continental shelf is less than 1
result of the interaction of the tectonic plates, multi-period
metamorphism shows the multi-cyclic evolution of the con-
tinental crust. Some special metamorphic rocks, such as
eclogite, and glaucophane-schist Ye et al. (
2004
), have pro-
vided scienti
c evidence of the Earth in its early stages.
The rich and rare geological phenomena and their asso-
ciated geological heritage, provide excellent conditions for
the establishment of geoparks in China. Within this context,
their signi
. The coastal plain
contains river deltas, criss-cross water channels, and lakes.
The overall appearance of the three steppes and the four
topographic levels were developed by uniform tectonic
dynamics which are the result of
º
cance is recognised by the Chinese government,
and the active participation of stakeholders were important
factors in promoting the development of geoparks in China
(Jiang
2002
). At the time of writing this paper, in China, there
are 27 Global geoparks, 140 National geoparks, and 79 parks
that qualify to become National Geoparks, and 259 provin-
cial geoparks (Zhao et al.
2011
). China now has a geopark
system composed of Global geoparks, National geoparks,
Provincial geoparks and developing County geoparks.
long-term interaction
among the Eurasian Plate, the Paci
c Plate, the Indian Plate,
and the Philippines Plate The changes of the gravitational
eld, especially the gravity anomaly
mutation belt, and the depth of the Mohorovi
eld and the magnetic
disconti-
nuity, are associated closely with the geomorphic steppe
components in the continent (Ma et al.
2009
). It reects the
dynamic foundations of the surface topography changes.
China has undergone 3.6 billion years of geological evo-
lution which developed systematic strata from the Archaean
to the Cenozoic. There are 9 internationally-recognised, glo-
bal stratotype sections and points (Chinese Strata Committee
2002
), and some of them are included in national geoparks. In
China, the outcrops of carbonate rocks cover 1,300,000 km
2
,
which occur mainly in the six provinces in southern China.
The area of the most concentrated carbonate strata is about
730,000 km
2
, which is one of the best developed karst land-
form regions in the world (Che and Yu
1985
). Many kinds of
magmatic rocks (granite, ophiolite, etc.) in different geologi-
cal periods are distributed in China. The outcrop area of
granites is 860,000 km
2;
among them; the largest area is
Mesozoic granite, and the next is Palaeozoic granite (Natural
Geography Group of China Science Academy
1980
). As a
i
č
ć
3
Characteristics and Types of Chinese
Geoparks
On the basis of geological-geomorphological characteristics,
the authors have analysed the factors of the geology that
underpin Chinese geoparks; these are described below.
(1) The relatively concentrated zones of National geoparks
are the three steppe zones where 70 National geoparks
were established; these represent more than 50 % of the
total National geoparks (Fig.
1
). In the
rst steppe zone,
there are 22 National geoparks (Fig.
1
), such as Jianza
geopark in Qinghai, Liujiaxia in Gansu, Longmenshan
and Daduhe canyon and Xingwen in Sichuan, Lijiang
Fig. 1
Distribution map of
Chinese geoparks
