Karst cave in NE China becomes internet sensation

The water cave developed in the early and middle period of the Middle Pleistocene in the Quaternary, which is 500,000 years ago, according to Professor Zhu Xuewen, president of the Cave Research Association of China Geological Society.

The Benxi Water Cave was once an ocean around 570 million years ago that housed a large number of stalagmites, brachiopods, gastropods, and ladderworms. Later, with the receding of the sea water, this area slowly rose to land. Limestone is continuously dissolved by external forces during geological movements. After hundreds of millions of years, it gradually developed into today's water cave.

The fissure filled with water and the tunnel enlarged to become an underground river. The dissolution process is still underway today.

The cave's entire internal space is more than 400,000 cubic meters. The widest section is 70 meters wide and 38 meters high, which is barely half the size of the National Center for the Performing Arts of China.

In addition to the water cave, the local government has made use of the unique resources of the dry cave in building the Benxi Geological Museum. It is designed to display the major geological changes and prehistoric relics.

Zhang Hongchen contributed to the story.