BEIJING, April 15 -- Two sites in China have been officially designated as UNESCO Global Geoparks, bringing the country's total to 51, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced on Wednesday.

The decision was adopted at the 224th session of the executive board of UNESCO in Paris. The newly inscribed geoparks are Changshan Geopark in east China's Zhejiang Province and Mt. Siguniang Geopark in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Changshan Geopark, covering 1,043.1 square kilometers, is characterized by its well-preserved Cambrian-Ordovician stratigraphic profiles and rich paleontological fossils.

Mt. Siguniang Geopark, spanning 2,764.01 square kilometers, sits in a critical transition zone where the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau drops steeply into the Sichuan Basin. It features complex folds, flysch deposits, extremely high mountains and granite horn peaks.

With these latest additions, China now has 51 UNESCO Global Geoparks across 24 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.