Scientists in China find enormous sinkhole with a hidden ancient forest inside

Virgin Radio

19 May 2022, 13:11

Credit: @CTGNofficial Twitter

An enormous 630ft-deep sinkhole has been discovered by researchers in China containing an ancient forest range that could include a never-before-seen species.

A group of cave explorers came across the sinkhole, located near Ping’e Village in the Leye Country of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, earlier this month.

The sinkhole is around 1,000ft in length, 490ft in width, and 630ft in depth according to the Xinhua news agency, and is being classified as a “large” discovery by researchers.

The expedition team hiked for several hours before they reached the bottom of the sinkhole, where they found three cave entrances leading to a “well-preserved primitive forest”, according to experts quoted by the agency, with trees growing up towards the sun.

Cen Lixin, leader of the expedition team, told Xinhua that the undergrowth of the forest grew up to a person’s shoulders and included some trees around 40 metres tall.

He added: “I wouldn’t be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now.”

The Guangxi region of China has become known for its beautiful caves and Karst formations. In 2019, there was a discovery of several sinkholes in the region similar to this one.

The largest cluster of sinkholes was found in the Shaanxi province in the northwest of China in 2016 and the deepest underwater sinkhole was also discovered in the South China Sea.

In the Leye County, where this sinkhole was discovered, there are several similar sinkholes and the report of this one has brought the number of sinkholes to 30, reported Xinhua.

In other news about weird and wonderful scientific discoveries, an alien-like creature with four limbs, a reptile skull and a tail shocked passers-by when it washed up on a beach in Australia.

Queensland's Alex Tan was baffled to find the unidentified creature on Maroochydore Beach on the Sunshine Coast soon after the floods hit the area.

“I’ve stumbled across something weird,” he said in his Instagram post. “This is like one of those things you see when people claim they’ve found aliens.”

Lots of people suggested it could be a baby kangaroo, a wallaby, or even a possum- but the jury’s still out.

See it for yourself here.

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