It is a world-famous Chengjiang fossil site.

This is a window of the Cambrian explosion of life,

It is also one of the fossil shrines of early life evolution.

Known as the cradle of life on earth.

Chengjiang Fossil Land Natural Museum

The great discovery of Chengjiang biota,

Known as "one of the most amazing scientific discoveries of the 20th century",

A lot of its research results.

In the journal Nature.

And other important international academic journals.

20 12 July 1,

Chengjiang Fossil Land is listed in the World Heritage List.

It has become the only natural heritage in Asia and the first fossil world in China.

Discovery of Chengjiang Fossil Land

In the long historical evolution of the earth, the period from 5.41year to 485 million years ago is called CAMBRIAN. Cambrian is a watershed in the evolution of life on earth. All kinds of life on the earth suddenly appeared in large numbers in the CAMBRIAN. This phenomenon is called "Cambrian life explosion" and is a key event in the evolutionary history of life on earth.

Discovery point of Chengjiang fauna fossils

In July 1984, 1, Professor Hou Xianguang from Nanjing Institute of Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences collected fossils in Maotianshan area. When he split a rock with a hammer, to his surprise, what appeared in front of him was a kind of biological fossil that he had never seen before, which was the first Chengjiang fauna fossil that was later identified as "Rona Long Tail". This discovery opened a window to understand life in the early CAMBRIAN.

The geological age of Chengjiang fauna is determined to be 565,438+08 million years, belonging to the Early Cambrian. The Gith fauna in Beable is130,000 years earlier, so the Chengjiang fauna is closer to the beginning of the Cambrian life explosion. So far, this is the real evidence of the explosion of life in the early CAMBRIAN, which has important scientific value for understanding the evolution of life on earth.

The discovery of Chengjiang fauna has caused a sensation in the world, and paleontologists from many countries have come to Maotian Mountain to investigate Chengjiang fossils. At present, there are 200 species of organisms found in Chengjiang fossil site. Except algae, animal species belong to phylum 16 and genus 177, including new genus 146 and new species 162. In addition, there are more than 30 kinds of fossils to be determined.

trilobite

Qixia

Fuxian lake worm

The International Union for Conservation of Nature spoke highly of the fossils of Chengjiang Fauna, and believed that Chengjiang Fossil Site preserved unique and important fossil remains and displayed outstanding and extraordinary records, which witnessed the rapid diversification of life on earth in the early Precambrian period 5./kloc-0. 8 billion years ago. In this short geological gap, almost all major animal groups originated, and the geological evidence of the diversity of Chengjiang fossil sites represents the highest quality of fossil remains preservation.

As far as species diversity is concerned, Chengjiang fossil land is unparalleled. Yunnan worm is the oldest chordate found here and is considered as the ancestor of all vertebrates. At the same time, Chengjiang Fossil Land also preserves a large number of high-quality and exquisite fossils, both creatures with hardware and software organization and a large number of completely software-based creatures. Surprisingly, even the details of the digestive system of the arthropod Rona worm and the gill filaments of Yunnan worm have been perfectly preserved.

The rocks and fossils in the world natural heritage of Chengjiang Fossil Site show outstanding and well-preserved records, which are the testimony of the rapid diversification of life in the early Cambrian 5180 thousand years ago. The heritage protection area covers an area of 7.32 square kilometers, including 5. 12 square kilometers for the core protection area and 2.2 square kilometers for the buffer area. So far, it is the area with the largest number of paleontological species found in the world, showing the complete marine biological community and ecosystem in the early CAMBRIAN.

Tianshan worm with cylindrical cap

Redler worm

The world natural heritage and its surrounding areas were approved to establish Chengjiang Fauna Paleontology National Geopark in 20001year, which was the first batch of national geoparks. There are 18 important geological relics in the 18 square kilometer geopark. Among them, there are 2 world-class geological relics:

One place is Maotian Mountain, where Professor Hou Xianguang first discovered Chengjiang fossils in 1 July, 65438. More than 80 new CAMBRIAN species have been discovered and named here for the first time, which has also been praised by the international scientific community as "the origin of paleontological model specimens". The other is Xiaolantian, where the most complete Chengjiang fossil production layer is preserved. Among more than 200 species found in Chengjiang, most species were found in this section, such as ctenophore, Fuxian Lake worm and so on.

Two national geological sites: fossils such as Huaxia eel and Yunnan worm were found in Maanshan, which appeared on the cover of World Nature magazine. The most complete stratigraphic section preserved in Juma Village can clearly show that Chengjiang biota belongs to the early period of Cambrian life explosion. This area of 18 square kilometers was listed as the provincial nature reserve of Chengjiang Animal Fossil Group in 1997.

A trip to protect the world's natural heritage

Chengjiang Fossil Land is not only the pride of Yuxi, but also the pride of Yunnan and China. In order to protect the Chengjiang fossil land, the party and state leaders have repeatedly instructed the provincial, municipal and county party committees and governments to go all out, and the local people actively participated and made painstaking efforts.

Chengjiang Fossil Land Natural Museum under Construction (data map)

Within the protection range of Chengjiang fossil land, phosphate rock resources are very rich. These phosphorites were formed and deposited on the seabed before CAMBRIAN, and Chengjiang bioclastic layer was above the phosphorite layer. Mining phosphate rock will definitely cause damage to Chengjiang fossils. In order to protect the world heritage, the local government decisively closed the 14 phosphate rock collection point around Maotianshan Mountain, and Chengjiang County reduced the local fiscal revenue by about 50 million yuan every year.

In 2004, Yuxi began to declare Chengjiang fossil land as a world natural heritage. After eight years' efforts, in 20 12, and also in July 1, Chengjiang fossil site was successfully applied for heritage. It has become the first fossil natural heritage in China, the only one in Asia and only three in the world.

Mao Tianshan Haiyun Un-yong Kim photo

World heritage represents the highest value of human beings and nature. Chengjiang Fossil Land, like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, is a unique cultural brand in China. In accordance with the spirit and principles of the World Heritage Convention, Yuxi City has established a director-level management committee and a world natural heritage management committee of Chengjiang Fossil Site, and arranged special funds every year to effectively protect and manage the 5 12 hectare Chengjiang Fossil Site. As early as 199 7, the Yunnan provincial government promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of Animal Fossil Groups in Chengjiang, Yunnan Province. After the successful application of 20 12, the legislative protection of Chengjiang fossils was started one after another, and the Regulations on the Protection of Chengjiang Fossil World Natural Heritage in Yunnan Province was officially promulgated and implemented in July 20 17. After the promulgation of the regulations, cities and counties attached great importance to it, and the Municipal People's Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on the Regulations on the Protection of the World Natural Heritage of Chengjiang Fossil Land in Yunnan Province" in time. Chengjiang County carried out publicity and implementation work in a timely manner, and actively carried out publicity work by distributing leaflets, visiting villages around the heritage site, and carrying out cultural performances. , enhance people's awareness of protection; Give full play to the role for news public opinion and social supervision; strengthen the consciousness for all departments of perform their duties; and standardize the protection and management for Chengjiang fossils and various behaviors for the people. Carefully make plans and implement scientific management. 20 17, the planning revision of Chengjiang Fauna and Paleontology National Geopark in Yunnan Province was completed and approved for implementation. On 20/0/8, KLOC completed the compilation of the World Natural Heritage Protection Plan of Chengjiang Fossil Land and the Provincial Nature Reserve Protection Plan of Chengjiang Animal Fossil Group, which are being submitted to the provincial authorities for expert review and approval. The preparation of this plan will effectively promote the protection of geological relics.

The world natural heritage of Chengjiang Fossil Land was selected as the first batch of "Top Ten Popular Science Research Brands" in China.

In order to polish the beautiful business card of world heritage, Yuxi city has taken various measures to do a good job in protection and development. On April 20 15, the national popular science education base was successfully established, and the popular science textbook for primary and secondary schools in Chengjiang Fossil Land compiled by the Ministry of Education was listed as a national textbook. The Yunnan provincial government also signed an agreement with the China Academy of Sciences to jointly build the Chengjiang CAMBRIAN Fossil Cooperative Research Center to further study and explore the mystery of life evolution. At the same time, in order to make scientific use of the world natural heritage Chengjiang Fossil Land, Chengjiang County invested 630 million yuan to build a Chengjiang Fossil Land Natural Museum with an area of 190 mu and a construction area of 42,000 square meters in the Mid-levels near Yijiu Community in Yousuo Town, fully tapping the scientific research and cultural value of Chengjiang Fossil, telling tourists about the magic of life explosion, life evolution and biodiversity, and building a domestic first-class scientific research experience and popular science tourism. At present, Chengjiang Fossil Land. In the near future, it will change from a scientific holy land to a popular science tourist attraction.

Visit Chengjiang Fossil Science Research Museum

In addition, in order to further establish the brand image of Chengjiang Fossil and make the heritage truly "alive", the World Natural Heritage Management Committee of Chengjiang Fossil further improved the popular science facilities and organized tourist reception and popular science education activities, with an average of more than 6,543,800 visitors per year. Continue to strengthen scientific research cooperation with China Academy of Sciences, Northwest University, Yunnan University and other domestic and foreign research units, universities and organizations to improve the level of scientific research; Strengthening the brand building of scientific research, Chengjiang Fossil Land Natural Museum won the "Top Ten Scientific Research Brands of National Scientific Research Alliance" at the 2nd China Scientific Research Forum on 20 19. In order to enhance the influence of Chengjiang fossils, the solicitation of propaganda slogans of Chengjiang fossils has had a positive impact in all walks of life. In addition, it also organized the compilation of books and exhibitions, successively launched out-of-print woodcuts and ceramics of Chengjiang fossils, created 6 series of 48 varieties of cultural and creative products, explored the road of research and development, production and sales, and strived to turn the image of Chengjiang fossils into products that attracted the public. At the same time, the World Natural Heritage Management Committee of Chengjiang Fossil Land also actively cooperated with Xinhuanet to produce Chengjiang Fossil VR film, and participated in the Venice Film Festival in September. It is hoped that by participating in international and domestic film festivals, the IP of Chengjiang Fossil Land will be built, and the attraction of creative and innovative elements and fossils will be enhanced.

Screenshot of VR movie "Cambrian Home"

Since the discovery of Chengjiang Fossil Land for 35 years, as the guardian of this world-class treasure, the World Natural Heritage Management Committee of Chengjiang Fossil Land has been exploring the protection, management, development and utilization of the heritage with the care and help of all levels and departments, striving to create a sacred place for paleontological research, scientific research experience and popular science tourism research, and promoting the development of cultural tourism industry. The grand blueprint is gradually becoming a reality.

Photo: Except signature, it is provided by the Propaganda Department of Chengjiang County Committee.

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