武隆喀斯特的“三绝”

武隆喀斯特的“三绝”

武隆有三个独立喀斯特系统，即芙蓉洞洞穴系统、天生三桥喀斯特系统和后坪冲蚀型天坑喀斯特系统。这三个自然景观可称作“中国南方喀斯特三绝”。喀斯特孕育出的三个自然景观，不仅演示着正在进行的地球内外引力地质作用，而且蕴藏着不同地质条件下喀斯特发育、演化的秘密，甚至是解读长江三峡形成机理的一把钥匙。

芙蓉洞洞穴系统

芙蓉洞—天下第一洞

芙蓉洞洞穴群发育于寒武系和奥陶系碳酸盐岩中，由同汽坑洞、摔人洞、卫江岭洞、垌坝洞、新路口洞、水帘洞、芙蓉洞、干矸洞和四方洞等洞穴组成，以汽坑洞为代表的垂向洞穴是洞穴探险爱好者和探险家的乐园，以芙蓉洞为代表的横向洞穴，则是游人崇尚的最佳去处，有“天下第一洞”的美称。

芙蓉洞，位于距武隆县江口镇4公里处的芙蓉江畔，发现于1993年5月。经中国与澳大利亚有关溶洞科研机构两次实地勘测，评价为：“世界奇观，一级洞穴景点”“一座地下艺术宫殿和洞穴科学博物馆”。

芙蓉洞主洞长2700米，总面积3.7万平方米，其中“辉煌大厅”面积1.1万平方米，最为壮观。洞中主要景点有金銮宝殿、雷峰宝塔、玉柱擎天、玉林琼花、海底龙宫、巨幕飞瀑、石田珍珠、生命之源、珊瑚瑶池等。进芙蓉洞游览，使人感受到大自然的神奇造化。芙蓉洞是中国唯一洞穴类世界自然遗产、国家AAAAA级旅游景区、国家地质公园、《中国国家地理》评选出的中国最美洞穴。

Wulong has three independent karst systems, namely the cave system of Furong Cave, the karst system of the Natural Three Bridges and the karst system of Houping Eroded Sinkhole, which are called “the three spectacular karst landforms in South China”. Those three natural landscapes originated from karst landforms not only present the geological process of the internal and external gravitations of the earth, but also hide the secret of the origin and development of karst landform which may be a key to understand the origination of the Three Gorges of Yangtze River.

The Carve System of Furong Cave

Furong Cave

Known as the First Cave in China, Furong Cave (Cave group) originated from the carbonate rocks in the Cambrian and Ordovician system, and it consists of Qikeng Cave, Shuairen Cave, Weijiangling Cave, Dongba Cave, Xinlukou Cave, Shuilian Cave, Furong Cave, Gangan Cave and Sifang Cave. While the vertical caves, represented by Qikeng Cave, are the paradise of cave adventure adventurers, the horizontal caves, represented by Furong Cave, are the favorite of the tourists, with the good name of " world's number one cave".

Located on Furong River, which is 4 kilometers from Jiangkou, Wulong Couty, Furong Cave was discovered in May, 1993. After two fi eld surveys, the Chinese and Australian scientific research institutes on karst caves evaluated it as “a world wonder and the first cave scenic spot” and “an underground arts palace and cave scientifi c museum”.

The main cave of Furong Cave is 2,700 meters long and covers an area of 37,000 square meters, of which the 11,000-square-meter “Splendid Hall” is the most magnificent spot. The major spots in the cave include Jinluan Hall, Leifeng Pagoda, Jade Pillar, Jade Tree and Flowers, Dragon Palace, Curtain-like Waterfall, Shitian Pearls , Life Origin and Coral Jade Pool. Visiting in the cave, one can feel the magic of nature. As the only cave World Natural Heritage in China, Furong Cave is a national AAAAA scenic sport and was evaluated as the most beautiful cave in China by Chinese National Geography.

芙蓉江—原生态喀斯特峡谷经典

芙蓉江是国家重点风景名胜区，面积152.8平方公里，主要游览河道20公里，游船游程3小时。景区以独特水上原始森林和“U”型峡谷、江河风光为主，行舟江中，水、滩、瀑、泉、崖、石、林等景色或蓝如黛，或绿如玉，或白如雪，或亮如镜，变幻无常。

Furong River

As the classic original karst canyon, Furong River is a national key scenic spot, covering an area of 152.8 square meters. The major tour river is 20 kilometers long which takes 3 hours visiting on tourist boat. The major spots of it include the unique water primary forests, the U-turn canyon and the scenery on the river. Boating in the river, you can enjoy the various changes of the water, beach, waterfalls, springs, cliffs, stones and forests, which are blue or black, green as jade, white as snow, and bright as mirror.

天生桥群系统

天生三桥—世界上规模最大的串珠式天生桥群

武隆天生桥早在500年前的明代《一统志》中就有相关记载，分布在长度为10公里三叠系下统的碳酸盐岩河段，由峡谷干谷、伏流、天生桥、天坑、洞穴、喀斯特泉组成，峡谷深200—400米，尤以其中的羊水峡和龙水峡地缝式岩溶峡谷最为壮观；三座喀斯特天生桥，分布在同一峡谷的1.5公里的范围内，桥间又是天坑，这在世界上可能是别无二例。天龙桥发育有两个穿洞，南穿洞为迷魂洞，北穿洞为如今的天生桥通道，其形状酷似人工桥梁。青龙桥因雨后飞瀑自桥面倾泻成雾，夕照成彩虹，似青龙直上而得名，黑龙桥因其拱洞幽深黑暗似有一条青龙蜿蜒于洞而名。天龙桥、青龙桥和黑龙桥3座天生桥总高度、桥拱高度和桥面厚度这三个天生桥最重要的指标皆居世界第一位，其三大属性更具有全球意义。

天生三桥是世界自然遗产核心景区、国家AAAAA级旅游区、国家地质公园。以规模庞大、气势磅礴的三桥夹两坑景观称奇于世，游览路程3公里，游程约2小时，三座天然石拱桥，是至今已发现最大的石拱桥群。

鸟瞰武隆天坑三桥

System of Natural Bridge Group

The natural bridges in Wulong

As the biggest chaplet natural bridges group in the world, the natural bridges in Wulong was recorded in Comprehensive Geography (known as Yi Tong Zhi) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD) as early as 500 years ago. Located at the carbonate rock river bank of the 10-kilometer lower Triassic, they consist of dry valleys of canyon, underground rivers, natural bridges, sinkholes, caves and karst springs. The canyons there are between 200-400 meters deep, of which the Yangshuixia Canyon and the Longshuixia Canyon are the most spectacular ones. The three Karst natural bridges, namely Tianlong Bridge, Qinglong Bridge and Heilong Bridge, locate in a 1.5-kilometer canyon with sinkholes between them, which may be the one and only in the world. The Tianlong Bridge has two sinkholes, of which the southern one is called Mi Hun Dong, and the northern one is today’s pass of the natural bridges, which looks just like an artifi cial bridge. After the rain, a waterfall will pour down from the Qinglong (meaning “cyan dragon” in Chinese) Bridge and form rainbow under the sun, which looks like a cyan dragon fl ying up. This is how the bridge got its name. The arch hole of the Heilong (meaning “black dragon” in Chinese) Bridge is so deep that it looks like a wriggle black dragon and thus got its name. The total heights, arch heights and thickness of the three bridges all rank the fi rst in the world, and their three features also have global signifi cance.

As the core scenic spot of the World Natural Heritage, National AAAAA Scenic Spot and National Geological Park, the Three Natural Bridges is famous for its large scale and magnificent scenery of three bridges with two sinkholes between them, of which the tour route is 3 kilometers long and costs around 2 hours to visit. The three natural bridges are so far the biggest ones among all the discovered stone arch bridges.

龙水峡地缝—探听地球心跳

龙水峡地缝是世界自然遗产、国家地质公园，典型岩溶峡谷地质奇观，全长2公里，旅程1.5小时，俯瞰深邃不见其底，谷宽1米—10米，两岸刀壁耸屹，仰头望天一线。

Longshuixia Canyon

Go to the Longshuixia Canyon to snoop the heartbeats of the earth. As a World Natural Heritage, national geological park and a geological wonder of karst gorge, the 2-kilometer canyon of 1.5-hour journey and its bottom is too deep to be seen from the top of the canyon. Surrounded by towering cliffs, the canyon has a narrow width ranging from 1 to 10 meters, making the sky above the tourists visiting inside it only a narrow strip.

后坪冲蚀天坑系统

后坪冲蚀天坑，发育于奥陶系石灰岩中，由地表沟溪、落水洞、竖井、天坑、化石洞穴、地下河和泉水组成，是一个包含从非喀斯特区到喀斯特区、从地表到地下、从上游到下游、从补给到排泄以至冲蚀天坑不同发展阶段的完整喀斯特系统，如今发现的这一类型天坑在国内外尚属于“独一无二”。后坪天坑最典型的为箐口天坑，箐口天坑形态完美，坑口呈椭圆形，最大和最小深度分别为295.3米、195.3米，自坑口视之，绝壁陡直，天坑深不可测，奇险无比。自坑底仰视，四周绝壁直指天穹，引颈仰视，坐井观天，白云悠悠，天空湛蓝，给人以超然物外、远离尘嚣的感觉。如今，该自然景观还处于原始状态，尚未开发。

The System of Houping Eroded Sinkhole

Originating from Ordovician limestone, Houping Eroded Sinkhole is composed of surface ditches and creeks, dolines, shafts, sinkholes, fossil caves, underground rivers and springs. It is a complete karst system includes different development phases from non-karst areas to karst areas, from surface to underground, from upstream to downstream, form recharge to discharge and even to eroded sinkholes. So far, this kind of sinkholes is still “the one and only” at home and abroad. The most typical one of Houping Sinkhole is Jingkou Sinkhole, which has a perfect oval crater with the maximum and the minimum depth of 295.3 meters and 195.3 meters. Overlooking from the crater, the sinkhole is surrounded by sheer cliffs and seems to have no bottom. Looking up from the bottom, the bold cliffs point into sky, leaving the visitors a narrow view with fl oating clouds and blue sky and a feeling far from the world and crowds. Not developed yet, the natural scenery has been in its primitive conditions so far.

The "Three Spectacular Karst Landforms" in Wulong