Shilin Karst

Diverse karst landforms in Shilin provide an valuable record of the regional geological history. Marine sedimentation ended in the Permian and was followed by terrestrial evolution until the present as represented by overlying basalt and lacustrine red beds. Shilin karst has been preserved and re-exposed repeatedly. Shilin is, therefore, the only site int he world that preserves the oldest stone forest, and it relfects over 200 million years of successive formation of karst landforms. Abundant marine fossil contained in the Middle Permian carbonate rocks (Qixia and Maokou Formations) and terrestrial fossils in the Eocene and Oligocene red beds are of great significance in regional stratigraphical correlation, particularly in southern China. Shilin preserves and displays various pinnacle karst landforms. Almost all existing pinnacle karst landforms, such as spire and pinnacle, can be found within the area. Therefore, it is regarded as the “Museum of Stone Forest Karst”. The Karst landforms and karstification mechanism are of great geomorphologic significance. “Stone Forest” is a term describing a distinctive karst landform and the term is now widely known.