Recently, the survey and evaluation of geological heirtages in Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark has been fully launched.  The aim of this survey and evaluation is to comprehensively identify the types, distribution, characteristics and quantity of geological heritage which have scientific, aesthetic and popularization values in the geopark.  Moreover, it also aims to find out the potential economic, cultural and spiritual value of these resources, so as to effectively protect the precious geological and natural resources in the geopark and fully play their role of scientific research, tourism development and other aspects, to better serve the development of local tourism economy. 

Due to the large area of the Alxa Desert UGGp, the rich and diverse types of geological heritage, and the large amount of geosites, the geoheritage survey and evaluation work is planned to use three years to complete all and achieve corresponding results.  The project will starts from Tengger and will be extended to Juyan and Badain Jaran.  The project was jointly carried out by China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and the Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark Administration. CUGB is a technical support unit entrusted by the Alxa Desert UGGp Administration.  An expert group which has 12 members participate in the survey and evaluation, led by senior expert professors TIAN Mingzhong, CHENG Jie and SUN Hongyan.  The other 8 staff members were graduate students from China University of Geosciences (Beijing).

At present, all work is progressing smoothly.  After more than 20 days of careful planning and unremitting efforts, the field survey in Tengger section has come to an end and many new geological heritages with potential scientific research and popularization as well as economic values have been found in the area.  It is expected to make new breakthroughs in the research fields of glacial relics, volcanic landforms and so on.  

The next step of the survey and evaluation in Juyan section is expected to start in the middle of August.  By the end of June 2023, scientific research achievements such as the geoheritage survey report and distribution map, geoheritage card and electronic archives of Tengger and Juyan can be obtained at the same time.  Then, the survey and evaluation will enter the last stage in Badain Jaran.