Talents in geology is the key to realize the dream to become a powerful nation of geological studies. This article reports the results of our survey of talents in basic research on geoscience in China, including the young scholars of geology involved in basic research who have received the Grant fro Outstanding Young scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and who have been project principal investigators of youth fund projects of NSFC. Combining quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis, the prominent problems for cultivation of young talents in fundamental geological research were summarized, and some innovative strategic countermeasure proposed.