Treasure of Penghu
As the biggest offshore island group in Taiwan, the Penghu Archipelago attracts waves of tourists, both domestic and foreign, with its beautiful scenery and rich marine resources typical of tropical islands. The Penghu Basalt Reservation Area, the islands’ leading natural wonder, in particular leaves unforgettable imprints on tourists with its spectacular perpendicular columns erecting into the sky.
Where magma erupts on the surface of the earth, the gases contained in the magma would dissipate into the air, creating air holes of various sizes on basalt rocks. When underground water rich with minerals like calcium carbonate, ferric oxide and silicon oxide ran through those air holes, aragonite, calcite, siderite, rhodochrosite, magnesite, quartz and chalcedony and other minerals emerged with a captivating array of colors and shades through crystallization and deposition, forming concentric-circle veins of different shapes on the basalt rocks from where Wen stones are extracted. The unique and amazingly beautiful concentric pattern has made Penghu’s Wen stones famous worldwide.
In recent years, traces of Wen stones with equally enchanting concentric circles have also been discovered in regions ranging from Sanxia to Zhudong in northern Taiwan. These Sanxia Wen stones, as they are generally called, emulate the beauty of their Penghu counterparts and further consolidate the status of Wen stones as the unique treasure of Taiwan.