The Guanling fossil national geopark is located in the Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous County in the southwest of Guizhou Province, with a planned area of 26 square kilometers and a protected area of 200 square kilometers. The core area is 0.94 square kilometers. It is 188 kilometers away from Guiyang City, 52 kilometers away from Huangguoshu Waterfall and 90 kilometers away from Longgong Cave.
In this geopark, the sea lily fossil Guanling fossil group is preserved in black mudstone and shale which formed in the bay or intercontinental residual basin environment 220 million years ago (late Triassic). The distribution of fossil-bearing strata covers an area of 200 square kilometers. The main fossil categories include: a large number of perfectly preserved marine reptiles (fish dragon, sea dragon, scorpion dragon, turtle), sea lily and ammonite, bivalve, orthodontic stone, Nautilus, brachiopods, fish, shark teeth and ancient plants from nearby land.
