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Discovered primeval forest in “giant” sinkhole

At the beginning of May, an expedition group discovered a giant sinkhole in Leye in the Guanxi region in southwestern China, where a well-preserved primeval forest is to be found at the bottom, the Chinese news agency reports Xinhua.

Among the 30 discovered sinkholes in the county, this is mentioned as the largest, with a length of 306 meters, a width of 150 meters and a depth of 192 meters.

The leader of the expedition group, Chen Lixin, tells the news agency that they rappelled more than 100 meters down during the expedition, before walking for several hours to reach the bottom of the sinkhole.

Around them were almost 40 meters high trees and plants that reached them to the shoulders.

A video published by the state television station CGTN will show the expedition, documented with a drone.

The expedition group notified Chinese researchers at the Institute of Karst Geology at the China Geological Survey of the discovery.

George Veni, director of the sister institute National Cave and Karst Research Institute in New Mexico, believes the primeval forest may contain undiscovered plant and animal species.

– It’s hefty news. I’m not surprised if new species are discovered in the sinkhole that have not yet been reported or described by science, says George Veni, director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in New Mexico, to the website AccuWeather.

According to Veni, sinkholes are common in southern China, due to karst landscapewhich is usually formed when rainwater dissolves the bedrock.

– In China, there is a visually spectacular karst, with huge sinkholes and giant cave entrances. In other parts of the world you can go karsten, without noticing anything, he says.

China also has the world’s largest sinkhole, Xiaozhai Tiankeng, located in the Tiankeng Difeng National Park, in the center of the country.

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