They find forest inside a gigantic pit in China

A team of Chinese scientists who are experts in caves has discovered a giant karst sinkholeor sinkhole, with an ancient forest inside, as reported by several media outlets.

The hole, in Leye County in 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.

Aerial photo taken on April 19, 2020 shows a Tiankeng, or giant karst sinkhole, in the Leye-Fengshan Global Geopark.

Number of sinks amounts to 30

The team of Chinese scientists discovered three tickets for the cave at the top after some cavers rappelled into the sinkhole and walked several hours to reach the bottom of the pit last Friday (May 6). With the current discovery, the The number of such sinkholes in Leye is 30.

Inside, the sinkhole is 306 meters 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.

You may also like: Discover which are the 6 Latin American countries that have the most biodiversity worldwide

The Leye hole, paradise of abundant fauna

In addition to the tall trees, some of the plants that grow in the primeval forest well-preserved they can reach a person’s shoulders, expedition team leader Chen Lixin told Xinhua.

The hole could even harbor species that science has not yet recorded. Chen stated that she “would not be surprised” discover new species inside the hole.

Vegetation in a Tiankeng in China.

Tiankeng (heavenly pit)

According to Xinhua reports, the giant sinkholes, also known as tiankeng (heavenly pit) in Chinese, are sinkholes, or giant pits, with special geological features that are found in karstic 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, LiveScience reported. For 700 million people, aquifers of the sinkholes are the main source of water, cave expert George Veni explained to the scientific media.

Another article to read: Cave art discovered in Alabama with the largest figures found in North America

“In China there is an incredibly spectacular karst, with huge sinkholes and gigantic cave entrances, etc,” Veni said. “In other parts of the world you walk through karst and you don’t really notice anything.”

Source: DW