Ancient forest discovered at bottom of giant sinkhole

Cave explorers discovered an ancient forest at the bottom of a sinkhole in  Southern China. 

A foreign news agency reported Tiankeng sinkhole, translated in English as the heavenly pit, is protecting an ancient forest whose length is equal to three football fields in length and height can reach heights of up to 130 feet.

Moreover, it is 150 metres wide and 192 metres deep.

It was spotted outside Ping’e village in Leye County in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They touched the base and came across ancient trees and plants.

Zhang Yuanhai, a senior engineer at the Institute of Karst Geology of the China Geological Survey said it had three caves in its walls. It also has a primitive forest at its bottom.

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The leader of the expedition team Chen Lixin said there could be life, which has not been discovered as yet.

The term karst landscape is used to describe landscapes that are made by a sinkhole. They get formed when bedrock dissolves into groundwater. 

It is an implication of the region having sinkholes and caves. The discovery of this cave is rare as there is enough light to allow the growth of trees despite its depth.

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