The "golden nail" geological museum opened to the public in Changshan county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on April 18.

Twelve academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as industry experts and scholars attended the opening ceremony.

A golden nail, just like a year, a month, and a day, is functioning as the fundamental measurement to record the significant activities of all eras the earth has gone through in roughly 4.6 billion years, said Chen Xu, an academician at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He added that the golden nail was discovered in the county's Zhoutang village in 1997, and that he is planning to set up an academician research center based on the museum, which is home to more than 800 paleontological fossils and 800 geology books.