FCU HOMESCHOOLING JOURNEY: WELCOME TO LANGKAWI GEOPARK

Isnin, 24 Oktober 2011

WELCOME TO LANGKAWI GEOPARK

( GUIDANCE CORNER )

The announcement of Langkawi as a 52nd Geopark in the world on June 2007, has made Langkawi the first Geopark in South East Asia and Malaysia. The declaration by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, scientific and Cultural Organisation) marks another milestone to Langkawi being a premier tourist destination in this region under the geopark brand.

Langkawi (Duty Free Port) is one of the unique island geoparks with 99 island and the region’s oldest rocks which can be found within the island, dating back more than 550 million years.

UNESCO has given its approval to extend Langkawi's status as a geopark, until 2015 after a review by two Unesco officers in last July 2011.

LANGKAWI GEOPARK:

Langkawi was born in the Cambrian era as a broad sedimentary mound at the bottom of a turbulent sea just north of the equator. Tectonic plate movements carried the mound, as part of the Gondwanaland super continent, south to the cold Antarctic regions where the sea froze above it and this moving glacier crushed the limestone, sandstone and siltstone into a base of hard granite and marble. There it was built on again over a period of some 400 million years through a series of deposits of various materials from sea life skeletons to glacial droppings. Then, during the Permian time some 290 million years ago, its underlying plate broke away from this continent and moved northward back across the equator and eventually, in a cataclysmic event accompanied by exploding volcanoes and hot lava flows, it crashed up against the East Malaysia/Indochina block in an earth shattering collision which pushed whole blocks of it all the way to the surface to from the Peninsular Malaysia.

From then,during the Jurassic age of the dinosaurs, this newly exposed land experienced severe alterations due to chemical reactions and erosion and a series of uplifting eruptions. The land was carved and gouged and hills were formed and valleys drained. Later during the extreme climatic conditions coinciding with the last ice ages(1.8 million to 10 thousand years ago),sea levels were pushed up and down drastically as a result of glacial melting and global cooling. So now above the rain forest we find caves full of sea life : Shells, corals and ancient fossils some hundreds of feet above sea level. Also among the island of marble,shale and limestone, we find caches of semi precious stones and crystals and even odd, cold water Brainchild clam fossils. We see amazing towers of limestone soaring hundreds of feet above the sea at tanjong Rhu, inland lakes as on Dayang Bunting where the roofs of huge caves have collapsed and strange mud stone boulders, which look like layered cakes, lie baking in the sun. This is the land that has been proved to be the oldest in the penisular Malaysia the “Birthplace of the Nation” so to speak and the cradle of ancient life form which have evolved to some of the world’s most rare and unique species. But first came the jungle.

MAT CINCANG CAMBRIAN GEOFOREST PARK:
Mat Cincang Cambrian Geoforest Park hosts the oldest geological formation in Malaysia known as the Mat Cincang Formation(550 million years old). Among the important geosites in the park are Teluk Datai, Pantai Tengkorak,Tanjung Buta/Pulau Jemuruk and Tanjung Sabung.

Gunung Mat Cincang is a mountain in the northeastern part of Langkawi island. Though only 710 meters in elevation, the mountain provides an impressive backdrop to Langkawi Island due to its sheer mass and size.

Langkawi Sky Hanging Bridge is a 125 metres curved pedestrian cable-stayed bridge on top of Gunung Mat Cincang.

The steep cable car ride .Once on the top, you can finally enjoy the magnificent view of the surrounding horizon; the island’s landscape, skyline and seas beyond.

Teluk Datai where the oldest grains of sand rest

Tanjung Batu where the graveyard of the oldest life forms in the country

Pantai Pasir Tengkorak where old continent has been sebmerged-exhibiting text book examples of sedimentary structures

This classic waterfall on the slopes of Gunung Mat Cincang drops 90 metres into a succession of seven natural pools. The pools get progressively more scenic the higher you go.

The Temurun waterfall is the tallest waterfall in Langkawi. It is a seasonal fall, best to be visited in September-October.

DAYANG BUNTING ISLAND MARBLE GEOFOREST PARK:

The Dayang Bunting Geoforest Park is mainly made of Permian marble overthrusted by the older Setul Formation limestone. These world finest marbles were resulted from ther baking of Chuping limestone by Triassic (220 - 200 m.y.) granite intrusion underneath.

Tasik Dayang Bunting or The Lake Of The Pregnant Maiden as it is better known, is the largest lake in Langkawi. Located on the beautiful and wild island of Pualu Dayang Bunting, Tasik Dayang Bunting is believed by the natives to be guarded by a white crocodile that bestows good luck on those entering its waters.

This lake is believed to have some magic 'mystical power' to improve fertility among those who dip into it and drink its water.

The fresh water lake Tasik Dayang Bunting is very unique because it is surrounding by the sea and only separated by a thin ridge of limestone.

Tasik Dayang Bunting is the largest fresh water lake in Langkawi Island.

KILIM KARST GEOFOREST PARK:
The Kulim Karst Geoforest Park in the eastern part of the main Langkawi Island features magnificently formed landscape of nearly vertical to subrounded limestone hills with pinnacles of various shapes and sizes, can be viewed on limestone Setul Formation. The Kilim Nature Park is spread over an area of 100 sq. km including the river banks up to the river estuary. The park features a beautiful mix of well protected green

Limestone forests of Kilim Geopark, Langkawi

A scenic view along the Kilim River (Sungai Kilim) of Pulau Langkawi's UNESCO Geopark. The domed shaped hill is one of the geopark's highlights, said to resemble a silver back gorilla.

Several areas of mangrove forests can be found all over Langkawi. The forests comprise networks of waterways and caves that are habitats to a profusion of endemic wildlife.

Watch Brahminy Kite Eagle and White Belly Sea Eagle in action trying to outwit each other during the "Eagle Feeding". The name "LANGKAWI" is said to have derived from the Brahminy Kite bird which is the most dominat faunal species in the area.