A long geological history has created rich and precious geoheritage in Kanbula Geopark. The lower 6,000m-thick Triassic section composed of marine terrigenous clastic rock and upper 4,000 m-thick continental volcanic rock in Longwuxia Gorge record a completely geological history of the intersection area between Qinling Central Orogenic Belt and the Qilian Mountains. It is a natural laboratory for studying the evolution and extinction of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, with significant scientific values for the comparative study of global Triassic system and the Paleo-Tethys Ocean tectonic evolution.

The Indosinian (250-205 ma ago) and Yanshanian (205-135 ma ago) volcanic eruptive rocks are exposed at Maixiu Mountain in the southern part of the geopark. The Indosinian volcanic eruption was strong and the lithofacies were complete, whereas the Yanshanian eruption was characterized by continental rift type volcanic eruption, which is a line of important evidence of Late Mesozoic intracontinental volcanic activity in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. These records prove that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau plate has undergone important geological events from splice, compression, strike slip pull-apart to central fissure volcanic eruption, so it is a natural laboratory for studying the splice of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau plate.

The ultrabasic mantle peridotite, cumulate gabbro and gabbro complex are the products of magmatic activity during the expansion of the ancient ocean basin between the West Qinling and South Qilian in the Late Permian-Early Triassic about 250 ma ago in Longwuxia Gorge. These rocks might be strong evidence of amalgamation between the West Qinling Mountains and the South Qilian Mountains. Therefore, Longwuxia Gorge will be a hotspot for studying the tectonic evolution of central orogenic belt at the junction of the Qinling and Qilian Mountains.

Jianzha section of Huanghe River is the key area for understanding the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, global climate change, the headward erosion and cut-through. This area witnesses the most significant geological events in the Cenozoic, such as the formation of the important landforms like the Kanbula Danxia and multi-level terraces of Huanghe River.