Taipei Taiwan Travel: Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園

Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園
Entering Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園. The rock landscape of Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園 is famous for its sea-erosion landscape and one of the wonders in the world. The costal line is stretching in a direction vertical to the layer and the structure line, plus the influences caused by wave attack, rock weathering, earth movement and crustal movement all contribute to the formation of such a rare and stunning geological landscape.
Yehliu Geopark can be divided into three areas. The first area contains mushroom rock and ginger rock. The second area is similar to the first area, where the mushroom rock and the ginger rock are the main focuses, only they are fewer in numbers. The third area is the wave-cut platform located on the other side of Yehliu.

Learn the development process of mushroom rock as well as witness the appearance of ginger rock, cleavage, pothole and melting erosion panel.

Queen’s Head 女王頭, one of the most famous scenes in Yehliu, is a type of mushroom rock. It is formed due to the differential erosion caused by seawater during crust movement. When comparing the height of the crust’s rising rate, it is assessed that the age of the rock is about 4,000 years old. The so called “Queen’s Head” is in fact a mushroom rock; it gets the title because the shape as formed after the top of rock being fallen apart in 1962~1963 appears like the side face of Queen Elizabeth.

Queen’s Head 女王頭 is regarded as the landmark of Yehliu, yet its fame doesn’t bring any good to itself since it not only undertakes natural devastation but also being spoiled by mankind. The narrowest part around it neck is about 138 cm now.

Mushroom Rock 蕈狀岩
The mushroom rocks grouped on the wave-cut platform are formed with globe-shape rocks on the top while supporting by the thin stone pillars on the bottom.

The formation process of mushroom rock can be divided into three phases:
1. Two broken concretions within rock layers are formed vertical to the sea level; as a result, the erosion caused by seawater may progress along the concretions, leading to the formation of stone pillar lining up in row.
2. The formation of mushroom rock is caused by differential erosion as the top rock layer containing calcium and being more durable for erosion than the lower rock layer.
3. The mushroom rock as formed is under continuous plate extrusion and thus is raised above sea level. Once it’s exposed to the planet’s atmosphere, it will suffer from weathering as well as rain erosion and turn into the shape as we see it now.

The mushroom rocks can be divided into three types according to the difference appearances as manifested on the head and neck of the rock: “Thin-neck rock”,” thick-neck rock” and “neckless rock”. As many of the thin-neck mushroom rocks undertake heavier load on the top and they may be toppled down easily if striking by earthquake or violent winds and waves.
The mushroom rocks may turn into various kinds of shapes in a progressive manner as they are chronically eroded by wind, sun and rain. They may involve into neckless rock, thick rock, thin rock and even the broken-end rock eventually. The top of the thin rock may fall apart if the neck of the rock contains incomplete sands and thud accelerating the formation of broken-end rock.

The Statue of Lin Tianzhen 林添禎銅像
Before an official scenic area was established, Yehliu was open spot without safety resources. March 18th, 1964, a group of students were visiting the area while a student named Chang Guoquan fell into sea by an accident. A local fisherman, Lin Tianzhen, jumped into the sea to save the student; unfortunately, both of them were drown in the end.
Upon hearing the news, President Chiang Kai-Shek gave orders to set up a statue in memory of the fisherman, Lin Tianzhen, while his story was also included in the textbooks for people to remember his brave acts.

Sea Groove 海蝕溝
Sea groove is formed as the surface of concretion is eroded by sea waves while the concretion is developed in a position vertical to the cape. The small bridges set up in the park are meant to connect two lands where sea grooves are formed below.

Cuesta 單面山
Cuesta refers to a kind of ridge featuring a stiff slope on one side and a gentle slope on the other side. It is formed by gently tilted sedimentary rock strata as a result of orogeny.
Two cuestas can be seen in Yehliu, a long, narrow wave-cut platform is connected between these two cuestas. To avoid confusion, the one located near the entrance of the park is called “Big Cuesta”, while the other, with its end engulfed by sea, is called “Gueitou Mountain”.