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Identification and Potential of Newly Emerging Geoheritage Karst Areas South of Hanzhong, Central China

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Abstract

Four new promising karst areas were identified south of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, via a detailed study of satellite and UAV images followed by field reconnaissance and documentation. The areas were named after the counties in which they occur: Ningqiang, Nanzheng, Xixiang and Zhenba. Now, the whole region is known under the collective name Hanzhong Tiankeng Group. The Nanzheng karst area was documented in more detail, including water and solid-phase characteristics using water tracing, inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry, X-ray diffraction analyses and micro-Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Based on the synthesis of data from Nanzheng and findings from other areas, the following most important discoveries/knowledge was collected: Over 50 collapse dolines were discovered, a number which meets the definition for tiankengs. The Quanziya Tiankeng (520 m long, 310 m wide and up to 320 m deep) is the largest in central and northern China as yet discovered. More than 20 caves were discovered, some with large underground spaces and the potential for tens of kilometres in length. The as yet longest cave is the Tianxingyan Cave, 12.9 km long. This cave consists of a huge corridor with several big halls (two of them exceed 200 m in length, 100 m in width and 70 m in height) and several side passages of different ages and characters. Water analyses and tracing tests helped with the orientation among the disseminated karst features and point to the existence of several large underground drainage systems. Solid phase identification revealed an interesting Sr-rich mineral association in the caves. Together with preliminary findings in other scientific fields, the Hanzhong Tiankeng Group offers a great potential for karstological, palaeontological and archaeological studies, and also has a great touristic potential.

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Acknowledgements

First of all, the authors wish to thank their colleagues — participants of the expeditions of the Czech Speleological Society without whom these discoveries and this paper would not originate (alphabetically, except the authors): J. Buček, R. Husák, V. Kaman, M. Kotol, L. Matuška, Š. Mátl, T. Mokrý, V. Pazderka, R. Pokladník, J. Sirotek, and R. Šebela. Some of the discoveries were made by members of the Nanning 702 Caving Club in China. We also thank J. Bottazzi, H. Wu, J. Liu, M. Li, J. Shi, S. Liao, H. Luo and other cavers from the Guizhou Zunyi Cave Association, Hanzhong Pangolin Caving Club, Chongqing Caving Team, and others from Beijing, Hunan, Guangxi and Shaanxi, for their cave survey, and to J. Zhao and H. Xiang for photos. Analyst K. Havlíčková of the Department of Testing Laboratories, Forestry and Game Management Research Institute in Prague is acknowledged for performing the water analyses. Exploration works in China are held under the auspices of, and in valuable cooperation with, several Chinese institutions, local authorities and speleological clubs. Activities of the Czech team in China are coordinated/co-managed by many leaders and experts: R. Gou, Z. Hong, H. Bai, D. Hou, Y. Wang, J. Ren, Q. Luo, J. Zhang, Y. Li, L. Tang, P. Wang, Y. Wang, X. Mao, T. Liu, M. Hu, Z. Jiang, W. Chen, H. Shen, X. Zhai, Y. Dong, R. Li, X. Cao, J. Hao, S. Zhang, J. He, B. Fu, H. Gao, M. Zhang, C. Chen and others from the Institute of Karst Geology, the Shaanxi Geological Survey, China Geological Environmental Monitoring Institute, Northwestern University, Chang’an University, Shaanxi Normal University and Shaanxi University of Technology. Special thanks are due to Wenlong Zhang for his great negotiations with the locals and help in the field. The authors wish to thank to Jiří Adamovič for the valuable comments and improving the English. The authors appreciate suggestions of anonymous reviewers and handling editor Kevin Page, which helped to improve the manuscript. Peopleʼs Government and other local authorities of Nanzheng, Ningqiang, Xixiang and Zhenba are also acknowledged for their hospitality and support.

Funding

Exploration of the Hanzhong karst was supported by project No. DD20189807 of the China Geological Survey and Institutional research plan RVO 67985831 of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojová 269, 165 00, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Michal Filippi

  2. Institute of Karst Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yuanhai Zhang & Philip Rowsell

  3. Czech Speleological Society, Na Březince 1513/14, 150 00, Prague 5, Czech Republic

    Zdeněk Motyčka

  4. Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    David Havlíček

  5. Shannxi Mineral Resources and Geological Survey, Xi’an, 710065, China

    Junliang Zhang

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  1. Michal Filippi
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Correspondence to Michal Filippi.

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Filippi, M., Zhang, Y., Motyčka, Z. et al. Identification and Potential of Newly Emerging Geoheritage Karst Areas South of Hanzhong, Central China. Geoheritage 14, 125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-022-00760-2

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