How to develop the geological tourism resources of the basin?

1. The east-line tour of the basin starts from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, passes through Yan'an, Yulin, and ends in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. It is a three-day tour with a total length of 700 kilometers. This line mainly features cultural relics from northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia customs.

The cultural relics in northern Shaanxi include the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and Yan'an, passing through the ancient Yaozhou kiln ruins, Yangling high-tech agricultural base, Yanchang Oil Field, Suide Ancient City, the hometown of Mizhi Li Zicheng, Jingbian Gas Field, etc.

Inner Mongolia’s customs include Genghis Khan’s Mausoleum, Mu Us Desert, Ulan Geer Grassland, Shenfu Coalfield, etc.

There are many typical stratigraphic sections along the way. You can see the exposure of rocks hundreds of millions of years ago, and you can also see the entire process of loess formation and evolution. Strange stone lovers can pick their favorite stones. There is a folk song widely circulated in northern Shaanxi: "Mizhi's mother-in-law, Suide's Han, the stone of Qingjian, the charcoal of Wayaobao", which talks about four things worth boasting about. First, there are beautiful ladies from Mizhi County, represented by Diao Chan. Second, Suide produces handsome men, represented by Lu Bu. The third is the stone slab of Qingjian. The fourth is coal from Wayaobao. The silty mudstone exposed in Qingjian River is particularly well-stratified. A piece of flat stone can be cut from the river bed, as if cut by a machine. Ordinary people can build houses by carrying stone slabs back from the river, which is also a unique blessing.

2． The west-line tour of the basin starts from Xi'an, passes through Pingliang, Zhongning, and ends in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia. It is a three-day tour with a total length of 600 kilometers and spans the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. This line mainly focuses on Longyuan cultural relics and Ningxia customs.

Located in the northwest of Xianyang is Qianling, the tomb of Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. There is the scenic spot of Kongtong Mountain in Pingliang, as well as Sanguankou guarded by Yang Liulang. Guyuan County at the foot of Liupan Mountain has the stone carvings of Mount Xumi.

Ningxia’s customs include Tongxin County Grand Mosque, Zhongning County Wolfberry Plantation, Qingtongxia Pagoda, Helan Mountain Rock Paintings, Xixia Royal Tombs, Yinchuan Sand Lake, etc.

Helan Mountain has a complete stratigraphic section and the famous Helan Stone is produced here. Ningxia is known as the "Five Treasures" of red, yellow, blue, white and black. Red refers to wolfberry as a nourishing Chinese medicinal material, yellow refers to licorice as a commonly used Chinese medicinal material, blue refers to Helan stone, a famous stone inkstone, white refers to tan sheepskin, a treasure of leather goods, and black refers to hair greens, a valuable dried vegetable. There are typical Cenozoic animal fossil layers in Gansu. When tourists appreciate the wonders of nature, it is also a good souvenir to collect some ancient fossils.

Note: This article was accompanied by pictures and text when it was published in the 3rd issue of "Petroleum Knowledge" in 2001. Comrade Yuan Xiaoqi was responsible for the pictures and Zhang Borong wrote the article.