Chinese geologists recently announced the success of the six-year-long geological survey of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the world's highest.

Sources from the China Geological Survey Bureau said the milestone survey marks the completion of China's survey.

For a long time, the 2.3-million-square-km Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was a blank page in China's history of territory geological survey.

Starting from 1999, the China Geological Survey Bureau allocated nearly 300 million yuan (about US$37.5 million) for a large-scale geological survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In the past six years, approximately 1,000 Chinese geologists have participated in the survey, with their steps covering 1.52 million square kms.

The bureau said the survey has also achieved great progress in mineral resources prospecting and environmental investigation, which will be important data for studying the plateau

Located in western and southwestern China, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is known as the "third pole of the earth" for its elevation of 3,000-5,000 meters.

(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2005)