Photo: SONG WEN/XINHUA/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
A team of Chinese cave scientists has discovered a giant karst sinkhole, or sinkhole, with an ancient forest inside, several media outlets have reported.
The hole, in Leye County, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has 192 meters deep and houses primitive trees up to 40 meters high that extend their branches towards the sunlight that filters through the entrance of the sinkhole, reported the Xinhua news agency.
Number of drains amounts to 30
The team of Chinese scientists discovered three entrances to the cave in the sinkhole after some cavers rappelled into the sinkhole and walked for several hours to reach the bottom of the sinkhole. pit last Friday (May 6). With the current discovery, the number of sinkholes of this type in Leye amounts to 30.
Inside, the sinkhole is 306 meters long long, 150 meters wide and its volume exceeds 5 million cubic meters, so it can be classified as a large sinkhole, Zhang Yuanhai, chief engineer of the Institute of Karst Geology, explained to the news agency.
The hole of Leye, paradise of abundant fauna
In addition to the tall trees, some of the plants that grow in the well-preserved primeval forest can reach a person’s shoulders, the leader of the expedition team, Chen Lixin.
The hole could even harbor species that science has not yet recorded. Chen stated that he “would not be surprised” to discover new species inside the hole.
Tiankeng (heavenly pit)
According to Xinhua reports, giant sinkholes, also known as Tiankeng (heavenly pit) in Chinese, are sinkholes, or giant pits, with special geological features found in karst regions formed by repeated landslides. They are mainly found in China, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
Many sinkholes also act as aquifers and water sources, reported LiveScience61777936. For 700 millions of people, sinkhole aquifers are the main source of water, explained cave expert George Veni to the scientific environment.
“In China there is an incredibly spectacular karst, with huge sinkholes and gigantic cave entrances, etc.”, said Veni. “In other parts of the world you walk through the karst and you really don’t notice anything.”
Edited by Felipe Espinosa Wang.