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| Rare shell ridge on the Qaidam Basin |
| CCTV.COM 2004-02-25 11:02:45 |
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Geologists were in for a big surprise recently when they stumbled across a two－kilometer ridge at the northeastern border of the Qaidam Basin in northwest China's Qinghai Province. Formed by fortified shells, the ridge is evidence that it once lay at the bottom of the ocean.
By anyone's standards, it's a remarkable discovery, hundreds of millions of shells glued together, layer upon layer, to form a ridge two kilometers long and ten kilometers high.
Time may have worn off the patterns and colors that once decorated the shells, though the outline and texture, as well as some calcified pearls, remain undamaged.
After collecting and examining samples, geologists have concluded that the ridge is typical marine deposit. They also estimate that, around one and a half to two billion years ago, mollusks, a type of animal with no limbs － were buried in the ocean sand before surfacing to the shores.
But, now that they've resurfaced, scientists hope that they will unravel the mysteries of this petro－rich region.
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Editor: Sun Weichao CCTV.com
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