Mashan Stone Forest

Mashan stone forest is located about 7 kilometers west of Jimo City, Qingdao city. It is composed of four connected hills, shaped like a saddle, so it is also called "Ma'anshan". The highest peak is 211 meters above sea level. Andesite porphyrite is rich in the mountain, mostly grayish green and grayish brown, formed by the condensation of magma gushing out of the surface about 100 million years ago. The southwest part of the mountain presents square columnar joints. The diameter of the plant section is about 1 meter, and the height is about 30 meters. It is straight and straight, and closely arranged, just like a dense forest. It is magnificent, so it is called "Mashan stone forest". The columnar joint stone forest is mostly developed in basalt, generally in hexagonal or pentagonal shape, while the Mashan stone forest is developed in andesite, and is square, which is rare in geology. In addition to four connected hills, Mashan also has a small hill, which is commonly known as "xiaotushan" by local people. Before the establishment of Mashan National Geopark, this hill was the source of stone materials for local people to build houses. The stone materials produced are of good quality, and the local people call it "Mashan stone". Today's "Mashan stone forest" landscape is the cross section of this hill.

Mashan Stone Forest

Mashan stone forest is located in Mashan, about 7 km west of Jimo District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province. In the southwest of the mountain, the magma condenses and shrinks evenly, forming square columnar joints. The diameter of the plant section is about 1 meter, and the height is about 30 meters. It is straight, straight and closely arranged, just like a dense forest. It is spectacular and daunting, so it is called "Mashan stone forest".

summary

Mashan is located about 7 kilometers west of Jimo District, Qingdao city. It is composed of four connected hills, shaped like a saddle, so it is also called "Ma'anshan". The highest peak is 211 meters above sea level. Andesite porphyrite is rich in the mountain, mostly grayish green and grayish brown, formed by the condensation of magma gushing out of the surface about 100 million years ago.

The southwest part of the mountain presents square columnar joints. The diameter of the plant section is about 1 meter, and the height is about 30 meters. It is straight and straight, and closely arranged, just like a dense forest. It is magnificent, so it is called "Mashan stone forest".

The columnar joint stone forest is mostly developed in basalt, generally in hexagonal or pentagonal shape, while the Mashan stone forest is developed in andesite, and is square, which is rare in geology.

In addition to four connected hills, Mashan also has a small hill, which is commonly known as "xiaotushan" by local people. Before the establishment of Mashan National Geopark, this hill was the source of stone materials for local people to build houses. The stone materials produced are of good quality, and the local people call it "Mashan stone". Today's "Mashan stone forest" landscape is the cross section of this hill.

origin

Although Mashan is small, the highest altitude is less than 200 meters, but its local reputation is not small. There is a local folk saying, "although the clouds on Mount Tai are high, they are not as high as Laoshan in the East China Sea. Although the clouds of Laoshan Mountain are high, they only reach the waist of Mashan mountain. " The status of Mashan in the hearts of local people can be seen from this. In fact, Laoshan, which is less than a hundred miles away, is above Mashan in terms of popularity and height. The reason why the ballad "Laoshan is not as high as Mashan" appears is that the local people once found oyster fossils on the top of Laoshan Mountain, and there are oyster fossils on Mashan mountain, but they are in the middle of Mashan mountain. From this, the local people infer that long ago, Laoshan area was once a sea, while Mashan was supposed to be an isolated island. Only with the vicissitudes of time, the sea turned into a mulberry field, which formed today's landscape. It is not surprising that the legend of "Laoshan mountain only reaches the waist of Mashan mountain". If you look closely, it seems that these stones, which have been silent for hundreds of millions of years, are also alive. There are many natural realistic pictures on the stones, which seem to be pouring out to people. When the author talked with his colleagues, he was also shocked by the secret just discovered. Or, in people's protection and careful discovery and research, stone forest will "reveal" more secrets immediately.

textual research

According to research, the mountain was formed by the condensation of volcanic magma more than 100 million years ago. Now the exposed part is 28 meters high, 30 meters thick and 150 meters wide. The group of columnar jointed stone columns is composed of numerous single columns with a diameter of about one meter, which are closely arranged in the form of four, five or six prisms. It is magnificent and spectacular. There are a lot of andesite pore cavities in the column, and there are a lot of calcite and Iceland spar crystals in the cavity, which are chrysanthemum petal shaped, and have high economic value, ornamental value and scientific research value. Especially in andesite, this columnar joint is the first one in China. It is one of the three wonders of columnar joint stone column in the world. In terms of scale and scientific research value, it can be compared with the world-famous British basalt joint "giant dike" and American phonolite columnar joint "devil tower".

Geology and geomorphology

There are abundant fossils of wood in Mashan area. The scientific name is "silicified wood". The diameter is tens of centimeters, and the height is more than 10 meters. The quantity and scale of wood fossils in Mashan area are rare in China. The most famous one is a Nanyang Chinese fir fossil with a weight of about 2 tons, a length of 6 meters, a diameter of 70 cm at the thick end and a diameter of 60 cm at the thin end, which was discovered in 1983. It is a new species of wood fossils discovered in China in the Cretaceous. The whole trunk of the fossil has transverse texture, which is divided into 12 segments. The texture is obvious and the growth ring is clear. It has important scientific research and ornamental value. There is an endless stream of tourists.

Mashan was a sacred place in ancient times. Baiyun nunnery, which was given the title of "huijue Chan Master" by Emperor Guangzong of Ming Dynasty, was the first generation of abbot. Now it has been restored. The Jade Emperor hall on the mountain is being rebuilt. There were Wucheng hall, Notre Dame hall, Raytheon hall and other temples in the back of the mountain. There are many folk stories and legends in Mashan.

Mashan was approved as a provincial geological heritage nature reserve by Shandong provincial government in 1993 and a national nature reserve by the State Council the next year.

scenic spot

Unfold and stow

Address: West of Jimo City, Qingdao (the junction of Daxin Town and Yingshang town)

Longitude: 120.37646725397

Latitude: 36.401457584303

Ticket information: 30 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Ma Shan Shi Lin