Analysis on spatial distribution characteristics and geographical factors of Chinese National Geoparks

Abstract

This study presents the Pearson correlation analyses of the various factors influencing the Chinese National Geoparks. The aim of this contribution is to offer insights on the Chinese National Geoparks by describing its relations with geoheritage and their intrinsic linkages with geological, climatic controls. The results suggest that: 1) Geomorphologic landscape and palaeontology National Geoparks contribute to 81.65% of Chinese National Geoparks. 2) The NNI of geoparks is 0.97 and it belongs to causal distributional patternwhose regional distributional characteristics may be best characterized as’ dispersion in overall and aggregation in local’. 3) Spatial distribution of National Geoparks is wide. The geographic imbalance in their distribution across regions and types of National Geoparks is obvious, with 13 clustered belts, including Tianshan-Altaishan Mountain, Lesser Higgnan-Changbai, Western Bohai Sea, Taihangshan Mountain, Shandong, Qilianshan-Qinling Mountain, Annulus Tibetan Plateau, Dabashan Mountain, Dabieshan Mountain, Chongqing-Western Hunan, Nanling Mountain, Wuyishan Mountain, Southeastern Coastal, of which the National Geoparks number is 180, accounting for 82.57%. 4) Spatial distribution of National Geoparks coincide with latitudinal tectonic zone and longitude tectonic zone of geological structure features, which is consistent with the areas around the Pacific Rim of volcanic tectonic zones. The coupling relationships are obvious between the spatial distributional pattern and the natural and geological conditions.