The world’s biggest sinkhole named Xiaozhai Tiankeng “found” it in 1994, and scientists are still unsure of how it came into being.
When looking down from orbit at the rural Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, deep, dark gashes may be seen, denting the earth like an alien footprint. Some specialists question whether a meteorite’s impact on Earth could have caused these puzzling structures.
Others claim that they developed gradually over a period of 128,000 years when water seeping into underground rivers cut the limestone rock in its path.
But one thing is certain: China’s Xiaoxhai Tiankeng, at 660 metres deep and 130 million cubic metres in size, is the world’s deepest and largest sinkhole.
Tiankeng, which translates to “The Heavenly Pit,” has sheer sides that descend to a genuine underworld where 1,285 plant and animal species, including the uncommon gingko and clouded leopard, live in a vibrant ecology. The formation is distinctive not just for its enormous size but also for being a double-nested sinkhole holding two craters connected by a sloping edge. An underground river and cave network are nourished at the pit’s base by a waterfall that pours from the pit’s mouth during the wet season.
Locals have known about the sinkholes for generations, but British explorers’ attempts to investigate its maze-like underground cave system in 1994 were what the outside world first “found.” Despite five shots over a ten-year span to map the subsurface river.
The crew of speleologists never made it past the gushing stream because it was too tough to navigate. As a result, one of China’s greatest geological mysteries continues to be this deep, dark abyss.
The video of Xiaozhai Tiankeng can be checked on the link pasted below:
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0crc7bb/china-s-huge-and-mysterious-xiaozhai-tiankeng-sinkhole
