Karst Cave or Cavern Landscape

This is a type of cave that is formed by the weathering and dissolution of soluble rocks. Karst caves include carbonate caves, gypsum caves and rock salt caves. Carbonate caves are the most common type in China and are most extensively distributed. They are mainly limestone caves. According to the nature of the caves, they can be divided into dry caves, water caves and cultural caves. There are approximately 100,000 karst caves in China, and more than 400 have surveyed lengths greater than 500 m. In June 2008, 78 caves with lengths greater than 5 km had been surveyed in China, and 25 were longer than 10 km. For example, the Bailang Cave in Leye, Guangxi Province, has been surveyed 75 km long, and the Tenglong Cave has been measured 52.8 km long. There are 60 caves with depths (vertical extent) greater than 250 m, and 17 are deeper than 400 m. There are 22 caves with cave chamber areas exceeding 20,000 m². Most of these large caverns are located in southwestern China. They are...