Caverns and Caves in Guizhou
The unique karst landforms have earned Guizhou such honors as the "Home to Karst Caves" and a "Kingdom of Cave Maze". There is also a saying that one does not need to visit any other karst caves after a tour of Guizhou. Guizhou has two-thirds of the dozens of caves more than 10 kilometers long in the country. There is a large number of karst caves in various forms in the province, and their value for sightseeing is the highest in the country. The most representative caves include Zhijin Cave, Getu River Caves, Shuanghe Cave, Dragon Palace Cave of Anshun, and Jiulong Cave of Tongren.
The Zhijin Cave, one of China's six most beautiful tourist caves, is located in Guanzhai Miao Ethnic Township, Zhijin County, Guizhou Province. The cave is 12.1 kilometers long and 175 meters wide at the widest point, with a relative height difference of more than 150 meters. It is spacious with upper, middle and lower tiers. More than 40 kinds of cave deposits can be found here, including stalagmites, stone pillars, clints, and cave flags, presenting a kaleidoscopic karst landscape that is awe-inspiring and breathtaking.
The world's largest cave chamber, the Miao Room, is located on the Getu River in Ziyun Miao and Bouyei Autonomous County of Guizhou. According to the results of British scientists' precise measurement in 2014, the Miao Room has a volume of 19.78 million cubic meters and an area of 116,000 square meters, equivalent to the size of 12 football pitches.
The Shuanghe Cave, located in Wenquan Town, Suiyang County, Zunyi City, is the largest karst cave in China, hailed as the "Karst Cave Museum" and the "Gateway to the Earth's Core". It is a maze of broken tunnels that run deep into the earth's crust in all directions. In March 2019, the results of the 21st international joint scientific expedition into the Shuanghe Cave were unveiled. According to the results, the Shuanghe Cave has a length of 257.4 kilometers, making it the longest cave in Asia and the fifth longest in the world. In that cave, the world's cave experts found underground terrace, cave waterfalls, helictites, gypsum flowers and other geological wonders, as well as a large number of fossils and living creatures, which are valuable for the geological and biological studies on the cave.
贵州洞天
奇特的喀斯特地貌,成就了贵州“溶洞之乡”“洞府迷宫王国”的美称,民间有“贵州归来不看洞”的说法。中国经过考察探险发现的几十个长度超过10千米的溶洞中,贵州就占了三分之二之多。贵州的溶洞数量众多、形式多样,观赏度在全国居首。其中,具有代表性的溶洞景区有织金洞、格凸河溶洞群、双河洞、安顺龙宫、铜仁九龙洞等。
织金洞被评为“中国最美六大旅游洞穴”之首,位于贵州省织金县官寨苗族乡,洞长12.1千米,最宽处175米,相对高差150多米,空间宽阔,有上、中、下三层,洞中遍布石笋、石柱、石芽、石旗等40多种洞穴堆积物,形成千姿百态的岩溶景观,令人心魄震惊,叹为观止。
世界最大洞厅--紫云苗厅位于贵州紫云自治县格凸河,2014年英国科学家精密测出苗厅体积达到1978万立方米,面积为11.6万平方米,相当于12个足球场。
国家地质公园双河洞位于遵义市绥阳县温泉镇,是中国最大的溶洞群,被誉为“喀斯特天然洞穴博物馆”“中国地心之门”。双河洞穴系宛如迷宫、支离破碎的洞道,从各个方向深入地壳。2019年3月,第21次双河洞国际联合科考成果发布,双河洞以257.4千米的长度成为亚洲第一长洞,世界第五长洞。世界洞穴专家在洞内发现了地下梯田、洞穴瀑布、卷曲石、石膏晶花等地质奇迹和大量洞穴生物化石、洞穴活体生物等,为洞穴地质、生物研究提供了丰富的极有价值的资料。
