HOANG TUNG STONE GARDEN

Stone Garden is located in Hoang Tung commune, Hoa An district. It is called so because the limestone here has been dissolved and eroded in a special manner.

The area contains a multitude of sharp peaks more than 20m high and 10m wide, which are covered by the younger red-brown terrigenous-volcanic rocks of Song Hien Formation (T1sh).

Hoang Tung stone garden illustrates a piece of the long geological history of the area. Continental spreading during the Triassic period (c.250 million years ago) led to the formation of the so-called intra-continental rift (a sort of narrow, elongated sea like the Red Sea at the border between the present day Asia and Africa), resulting in numerous sub-marine volcanoes and sediment deposition, forming thus the so-called terrigenous-volcanic rocks on top of the older limestone. These sedimentary-volcanic rocks have helped scientists confirm the existence of the above-mentioned rift.

Subsequent weathering and erosion-denudation processes have removed part of these cap rocks while the sharp peaks were formed by flowing water over a long period in the underlying fractured limestone.

These special features provide both aesthetic and scientific values to be enjoyed by visitors to the Stone Garden.