Recently, an undersea volcano in the South Pacific island nation of Tonga erupted violently for two consecutive times and caused a tsunami. When it comes to Jiangsu, the first impression that comes to many people's minds is: the terrain is low, the rivers and lakes are dense, the fields are staggered, and the water towns and ancient towns are scattered among them, and there is a gentle and feminine scene everywhere. I am afraid that few people know that Jiangsu is also one of the provinces and regions with the largest distribution and concentration of volcanoes in the mainland! The most recent phase of volcanic activity in Jiangsu began in the Cenozoic Era and ended in about 2 million years.
The land of Jiangsu is full of volcanic burns
The distribution range of Jiangsu volcanoes is almost all over the province.
The earliest phase of volcanic activity in Jiangsu can be traced back to 2.5 billion to 2 billion years ago, and the second phase occurred 1.6 billion to 1 billion years ago, because the age is too long, the imprints of the first two phases of the volcano have been obliterated and difficult to find, only near Lianyungang and Xuzhou to Suqian, there are still sporadic volcanic rocks exposed.
In the Mesozoic Era, 150 million to 80 million years ago, Jiangsu ushered in a climax of volcanic activity, and volcanoes spread throughout the province.
Today, we also have some relatively complete volcanic mechanisms in Lishui, Dantu, Jurong, Liyang, Jiangning, Xuyi and Liuhe. In addition, there are still some single eruption centers, such as Panshi Mountain and Kuahbu Mountain in Liuhe County, Dasun Yin and Shuichonggang in Xuyi County, Dashan and Shewushan in Jiangning County, Wushan gang and Jianshan in Jurong County, Fangshan and Liang hatding in Jintan County, Laohugang in Liyang County, Fushan in Lishui County, Tong'an in Wuxian County and AnfengShan in Donghai County, etc., all of which can find volcanic relics from this period.
The most recent phase of volcanic activity in Jiangsu began in the Cenozoic Era and ended in about 2 million years. Ancient volcanoes formed in the Cenozoic Era have the most survived in Jiangning District, Liuhe District, Yangzhou Yizheng City, Huai'an Xuyi County and other places on both sides of the Yangtze River.
Why is there so much volcanic activity in Jiangsu?
From the perspective of geological structure, Jiangsu is located in the dual combination of the Lower Yangtze Plate and the North China Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate. The famous Tanlu Fault crosses the territory, and when the local crust moves, the plate junction and the fault zone are prone to stratigraphic folds and fractures, accompanied by large-scale magmatic activity, which is the root cause of jiangsu's multiple volcanoes.
These mountains in Jiangsu are actually volcanoes
China is also a volcanic country in history, but it has not erupted in the past 100 years. The main volcanoes in China are Changbaishan Volcano (erupted in 1668 and 1702), Wudalianchi Volcano (erupted in 1720 and 1721), Tengchong Volcano (erupted in 1609), and Qiongbei Volcano (erupted in 1883). The volcano, with its peculiar volcanic landform, beautiful scenery and endless hot springs, attracts countless tourists and becomes a sacred place in the hearts of countless donkey friends.
The charm and elegance of Jiangnan Water Town seem to be incompatible with the majestic landform of the volcano. There are dozens of volcanic institutions that have been proposed in Jiangsu Province. However, due to its early formation, it has suffered from erosion and destruction for a long time and rarely remains intact. Among them, the more typical, more detailed research and more information are Niangniang Mountain, Mantou Mountain, FangShan, Matou Mountain and other volcanic institutions.
◎ Beigushan, Zhenjiang City
Huo Yiping, a test sword stone of Beigu Mountain condensed from volcanic ash, was photographed by Huo Yiping
Standing in the center of Zhenjiang, Beigu Mountain, which was formed in the Jurassic Period more than 100 million years ago. The overflow phase volcanic lava forms the main body of the hill, giving it a flat and steep form, and the fuchsia rock and gray-purple rhyming structure give the mountain a unique beauty. At the northern end of the mountain, a series of stepped small faults in the north-south direction have also developed, thus forming a steep cliff of the river and becoming a scenic spot for guarding the north bank of the Yangtze River.
◎ Chishan, Jurong City, Zhenjiang
Chishan Mountain, located in Jurong, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, is composed of red sandstone from volcanic eruptions three million years ago, also known as Ochre Mountain, Danshan Mountain and so on. At an altitude of 289 meters, an area of 42 square kilometers, it is densely packed with pine and bamboo, babbling springs and streams, peaks of mountains and seas of clouds, and the scenery of the lake at the foot of the mountain, making people linger. The Qinhuai River and jurong River wind around the mountains from east to west, and one of the eight famous scenery in Nanjing in ancient times——— "Red Mountain Reflecting Snow" is here.
◎ Suzhou Gusu District Tiger Hill Mountain
The humanistic history of Suzhou Tiger Hill Mountain can be traced back to 2,500 years ago, during the Spring and Autumn Period, where the Wu King's palace was located, and he was buried here after his death. Originally built in the fifth generation, the Tiger Hill Pagoda, which slopes but does not fall, is a landmark historical building in Suzhou. The natural geological history of Tiger Hill is even more legendary, it was once a small island in the bay that disappeared from time to time with the rise and fall of the sea tide, so it is also known as Haiyong Mountain. Prior to this, its initial formation dated back to a volcanic eruption in the Jurassic Period. Tiger Hill Mountain is composed of Jurassic volcanic clastic rocks with red rhyolite volcanic breccia at the bottom, and due to the gentle formation, the vertical joints develop into overlapping cliffs and wide platforms, creating strange landscapes such as thousands of people's stones, test sword stones, sword pools, and hanquan springs.
◎ Fangshan, Liuhe District, Nanjing
LiuheFangshan Crater is located in the Liuhe District beam south of the East Mountain, formed by the Himalayan Late Tertiary eruption, is a relatively complete volcanic cone, the geomorphology is a horseshoe-shaped ridge with a northward opening, from the east, south and west sides, it is a square flat-topped mountain, the central depression is the crater position, the sinking depth is 80 meters, and the surrounding is a steep ridge composed of basalt, with an area of about 2.5 square kilometers. It has experienced the whole process of eruption, overflow, crater collapse and sub-volcanic rock intrusion. There were two eruptions, the early eruptive basalt was distributed in bands on the north and western slopes of the mountain, and the late erupted block rocks, breccias and basalts were distributed in a semi-circular manner on the southeast and west sides of the mountain, with a production of inward tilt, diabase filled in volcanic pipelines, and sub-basalt intrusion along the ring fault. In this area, Fangshan does not exist in isolation, and there are many volcanoes around it, such as Milk Mountain (Yashan Mountain), KuahBu Mountain, Lingyan Mountain, Guizi Mountain, Pingshan Mountain, Matou Mountain, and Qiushan Mountain, collectively known as the Liuhe Volcano Group.
◎ Tianyin Mountain, Jiangning District, Nanjing
The crater of Fangshan in Jiangning is located in the southern mountains of Jiangning District, formed by the late Tertiary eruptions of the Himalayan period. The landform is a gentle circular flat-topped mountain, which is a complete crater. The central pipeline is filled with diabase, with andesite intrusion in radial and annular fissures, and the distribution of block rocks and breccia rocks near the crater is in the form of outward tilt, and there are lava and pyroclastic sedimentary rocks around it, and the rock layers are tilted inward. There are two eruptive activities, the early one is the overflow phase and the late stage is the overflow-overflow phase. There is a break between the two phases, where pyroclastic sedimentary rocks are piled up.
◎ Geological relics of Mount Guabu volcano in Liuhe District, Nanjing
The stone pillar forest in the Kuah Mountain Scenic Area is one of the main scenic spots of the National Geopark, mainly basalt rock column forest, and the stone pillars are fan-shaped from top to bottom, which is very spectacular, constituting a colorful landscape such as "The Tower of the Master" and "Peacock Opening Screen". The geological ruins of Mount Kuah volcano are recognized as one of the most exciting places for volcanic ruins. Immersive and stunning. On these stones, it can be seen that the magma erupted tens of millions of years ago, or overflowed, or flowed like a stream, and it seemed that time was frozen in an instant. The radial fan-shaped stone pillars are more than 70 meters high, as if they were towers built on flat ground. Such a landscape is unique in The Country.
◎ Wuxi Yangshan
Located about 1.5 kilometers northeast of Wuxi Yangshan Town and 187 meters high, Yangshan is an ancient volcano formed during the movement of the Earth's crust in the middle of the Jurassic Period, which is 140 million years old, and the volcanic cone is basically well preserved. The summit has low-lying volcanic eruptions and lava flow grooves. The volcanic rock breaks around the eruption crater protrude from the broken rock cliffs. At the bottom of the mountain is the lake area of jiangnan green water network, with beautiful scenery. There are also 10,000 acres of peach orchards, thanks to the trace elements in the volcanic ash, nurturing the world-famous Yangshan peaches. Yangshan has now been opened as a volcanic geopark.
◎ Changzhou Liyang volcanic basin
The Liyang Volcanic Basin is located south of Liyang County, Changzhou City, with an exposed area of about 800-1000 square kilometers. The most famous of these is Liyang Jinshan. Jinshan is a mud volcano. The so-called mud volcano is because it does not spew fire, but gas and water, bringing out mud, sand and other things to form a volcanic cone or its pits.
The volcano has brought rich gifts to Jiangsu
Since the pre-Qin era, Jiangsu has had ancestors who have lived here, and people have been accustomed to using the various gifts provided by volcanoes consciously or unconsciously.
In the beginning, people simply used volcanic rock as stone or built houses, paved roads, or used stone tools such as stone grinding and stone milling. Later, in addition to the volcanic rock itself being widely used as a building material and industrial auxiliary material, many metallic and non-metallic minerals related to volcanoes were also widely exploited.
With the implementation of the green mountains and green water policy, many former mines have been successfully transformed into geoparks or places for people to relax and recreation. Nowadays, more and more people choose ancient volcanoes for leisure, and while admiring volcanic landscapes and understanding geological phenomena, it is also very interesting to find gems in volcanic rocks.
It is said that the process of enjoyment is the most important, but the average person is actually quite concerned about the result, and in the process of volcanic eruption, sapphires, peridot and other gemstones will be formed. However, in the ancient volcanoes of Jiangsu, sapphires are indeed rare, but there are still many peridots in basalt, especially in Nanjing Fangshan, Lianshan and other places where peridot inclusions are huge, abound, and even give people a dizzying feeling. As for whether you can find a gem-grade single crystal, it is all up to luck.
However, in the area of Nanjing and Yizheng, in the gravel layer covered with ancient volcanic basalt, people have also found another precious "gem", that is, yuhuashi. There used to be many famous Yuhuashi mines in this area, but now they have all been closed, so can Yuhuashi still be found in this area?
Believe in the generosity of nature and look for it among the gravel scattered in the foothills of ancient volcanoes. Even if the narrow sense of the agate with a beautiful pattern, or the pattern of the agate may not be easy to pick up, but the broad sense of the rain stone you will be able to harvest a lot, what is the generalized sense of the rain stone? The gravel with ornamental value picked up here is a generalized rain stone.
In short, that's what you think looks good.
This article was originally issued in Jiangsu and reprinted with permission.
Source: Purple Cow News