Merangin Jambi Geopark

The name was taken from the name of the administrative area, namely Merangin Regency and Jambi Province. The use of the word Jambi in the name Geopark not only refers to the administrative territory of the Jambi Province, but is also a statement of pride in the Jambi Flora Fossil. In the MJGp area, you can find rock characteristics up to more than 200 million years ago, especially regarding the discovery of the Jambi Flora Fossil since 1926. Due to this uniqueness, the MJGp area has been designated as a National Geopark in 2013. The main theme raised in the MJGp area is “Merangin Jambi Represent Finest and Complete The Last Early Permian Flora Fossils”, namely tree and sea fossils that are 300 million years old (Perem, Paleozoic) are found in the Merangin River as thick as 500 m, and are the only ones left in the world.

In addition, there is also a stretch of karst with a variety of landscapes, both exokarst and endokarst and has traces of ancient relics, therefore also the Mount Masurai complex with volcanic tectonic phenomena that caused the formation of several landscapes such as lakes, ponds, waterfalls, columnar joints, and geothermal manifestations which are still ongoing today. This complex is also a habitat for rare/protected flora and fauna and contains the history of past civilizations. All of these geological uniqueness are in a single area that can be found in the MJGp area. Overall, the MJGp area is a land area of 4,832.31 km². Administratively, the area consists of 12 sub-districts in Merangin Regency, with a total of 131 villages/urban. This area stretches as far as ± 121 km from the east to the west and ± 117 km from the north to the south. The main road route is the National Road route on the south-north route with a distance of ±80 km, then the east-west route for ±140 km. The land route to surround the Mount Masurai area is ±112 km.