Chinese Northern Karst World natural heritage

Chinese Northern Karst 2007.6.27 Natural heritage

On the 31st World heritage conference held on 27th June ,2007,Yunnan stone forest, Guizhou Libo and Chongqing Wulong were all listed as “Chinese Northern Karst” World natural heritage. ”Chinese Northern Karst” is composed of three-dimensional Karst such as Yunnan Stone Forest represented with forms as sword ,cylinder, tower ; Guizhou Libo Karst represented with form as scrippsiella ; Chongqing Wulong represented by born bridge, earth gap, doline , all of which were formed in the 500,000 to 300,000,000 years ago with an area of 1,460 square kilometers. The scenic areas here are well known at home and abroad.

Chongqing Wulong Karst World heritage is a part of “Chinese Karst ” World Natural .a typical representative of gorge Karst. It is composed of Hibiscus cave, Born three bridges and doline ,situated in the southeast, central North and northeast respectively of Wulong county in Chongqing, with total area of 380 square kilometers.

Hibiscus cave has magnificent space inside, composed of Tongqikeng cave, Throwing people cave, Weijiangling cave, Dongba cave, New junction cave. Drencher cave, Hibiscus cave, Ganqian cave and Quartet cave. The main cave in Hibiscus cave lengths 2500 meters, visiting path 1860 meters, the width of the base is above 12 to 15 meters with the biggest width 69.5 meters. The height of the cave is usually 8 to 25meters with the highest 48.3 meters. The total area of the cave base is 37,000 square meters, including the area of Huihuang Hall 1,000 square meters. The biggest static visitor capacity is 185,000 . There are two kinds of rocks as Hydrochloric acid rock and Sulfuric acid rock, with different forms of Stalactite as well as varied colors and species: stalactite, stalagmite, stone cylinder, stone mantle, stone falls, stone flag, stone belt, stone shield, stone grapes, stone coral crystal flower and so on. The mineral components are mainly calcite, gypsum, as well as aragonite and water magnesite stone. All of these are unique at home and abroad not only in their number but also in their forms. Here is the paradise of the cave explorer amateurs and explorers, for horizontal cave in Hibiscus cave as a representative as an example, is a good place for visitors who are interested in nature.

There were records of Wulong Born three bridges 500 years ago in the Ming dynasty. The three born Karst bridges are scattered in the area of 1.5 square meters of the same gorge, with doline as their bridge surface, which is unique in the world. Tianlong bridge extended two holes, north hole is Ecstasy hole ,south hole is now the born bridge passage, the form is just like man-made bridge. Qinglong bridge is named after this :After the rainy, the falls are falling through the bridge surface to form frost, the sunset turn into rainbow, just like a cyan dragon flying straightly. Heilong bridge was named because its arches are so deep and gloomy that like a cyan dragon meandering around the cave. The total height ,the height of the arch of the bridges and the thickness of the bridge surface are the first in the world.

Doline are composed of surface Ditch Creek, falling water holes, vertical mine, doline, fossil caves, underground river and springs. It is a transitional area from surface to underground, from upstream to downstream, supply to excretion ,finally to the erosion to the doline, the different development stages of the complete Karst terrain .Houping doline is typical for its jingkou doline, with beautiful elliptical form, the smallest deep and biggest deep are respectively 295.3 and 195.3 meters. Seen from the top, steep cliffs are beyond estimating; looking up from the bottom, the four sides of steep cliffs are approaching to the sky, holding up your neck, sitting in the mine watching the sky, white clouds moving smoothly in the blue sky, you will have a feeling of keeping yourself aloof from the world and far away from the madding crowd. A t present,this scene is in the primitive state, waiting to be exploited and developed.

Yunnan stone forest is well known for its”majesty,odd,risk,elegance,serene” ,it was famous firstly because it was called as “the first wonder of the world” Yunnan Karst terrain wonders spread widely with magnificent momentum and varied kinds as well as wonderful conformations. The area is 1100 square kilometers with protection area 350 square kilometers which attracts many visitors for its high aesthetic values. On the huge plain, there are majestic mountain forests, lakes, falls and caves. Kunming stone forest is famous for its large number of stones as forest, a large number of scenic areas with broad area. Those visiting places which have been exploited and developed are stone scenic area, Black pine and rock stone scenic area, Flying dragon falls scenic areas and Long lake scenic area. Stone forest is truly forest made of stones. walking through it , you can see strange stones standing with different forms there, lofty and towering. On the huge plain, there are majestic mountain forests, lakes, falls and caves, all of which are so beautiful that you can’t enjoy them all. Different forms such as sword, tower, columnar, castle, bud stone, wildness, all of which are like living things and human beings. The lively stone forest with wonderful and odd ,serene characteristics are standing there magnificently, which embodies the greatest wonder the nature have given to us.

Guizhou Libo is a place where Buyei, Sui,Miao,and Yao Ethnic Minorities all assemble, which is called the most beautiful place in China. As a world heritage, Nibo has so far kept the biggest primitive Karst forest in the world. The characteristics here are ethnic minority culture and fine original ecology.The Karst forest protection area are forests in the upper land, stone forest in the middle land, cave forest in the latter land, trees on the stone, root in the stone gap, all of which are in harmony with giant trees, rivers and valleys, falls, deep tams, mountain springs, caves to be a series of rare scenes. There are also worthy of seeing beautiful spots such as famous Seven holes ancient bridge, Xiangshui River falls, Laya falls, Guibei mountain original forest, Mandarin duck lakes.