Journal of Earth Science, Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 1–18, February 2010 ISSN 1674-487X Printed in China DOI: 10.1007/s12583-010-0009-0 Geological Evolution of Longhushan World Geopark in Relation to Global Tectonics Timothy M Kusky* Three Gorges Research Center for Geo-hazards, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Ye Minghe (叶明和) Longhushan Administrative Committee, Planning Bureau of Yingtan City, Yingtan 335000, China Wang Junpeng (王军鹏) Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Wang Lu (王璐) Three Gorges Research Center for Geo-hazards, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China ABSTRACT: The South China fold belt has experienced a complex series of tectonic events that span 1.0 billion years of earth history. Longhushan (龙虎山) World Geopark is located on the Proterozoic suture between the Yangtze craton and Cathyasia block and highlights the long history of this belt. Collision of the Cathyasia and Yangtze cratons 1.0 billion years ago was associated with the formation of the Rodinian supercontinent where most of the planet’s landmasses were amalgamated into one block. Jurassic through Early Cretaceous magmatism was associated with the inland migration of the continental margin arc associated with the penetration of a flat slab after subduction of the Kula-Farallon ridge. Slab roll-back in the Early to Middle Cretaceous opened many extensional basins across the South China fold belt, including the Xinjiang (信江) basin in which Longhushan is located, and these were filled largely with continental red beds deposited by fluvial systems in the hot torrid climate. The beds are richly fossiliferous, including remains of many dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs. Subduction of the Kula-Pacific plate in the Middle Cretaceous caused a short magmatic pulse, and This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40821061), Ministry of Education of China (No. B07039), Longhushan Administrative Committee, and Starting Fund of Three Gorges Research Center for Geo-hazards, Ministry of Education, China. *Corresponding author: tkusky@gmail.com © China University of Geosciences and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 Manuscript received August 10, 2009. Manuscript accepted October 15, 2009. then, the basins subsided slowly through the re- mainder of the Cretaceous. Cenozoic uplift of the red bed basins was initiated by the India- Asia collision. The uplift was associated with the formation of many faults, joints, and brittle structures that dissected the red bed deposits. Fluvial erosion of the red beds was enhanced along the brittle structures, and different loca- tions have developed very distinctive and struc- turally controlled geomorphological features in- cluding mesas, kopjies, and isolated stone peaks that are known in China as Danxia (丹霞) land-