Er Wang Dong () is a large cave in the

Wulong Karst The Wulong Karst () is a karst landscape located within the borders of Wulong District, Chongqing Municipality, People's Republic of China. It is divided into three areas containing the Three Natural Bridges, the Qingkou Tiankeng (箐口天坑) and ...

region, in

Wulong County Wulong District () is a district of Chongqing Municipality, China, bordering Guizhou province to the south. Administration Climate Education There is a central elementary school in Baiyun Town. Transportation The district is served by C ...

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

Municipality of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Current known length of its passages is with a maximum depth of . It is large enough to contain its own

weather system In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...

. The cave starts in the deep Niubizi tiankeng (牛鼻子天坑; "ox nose

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

") and also contains the deep Qingkou tiankeng. Er Wang Dong cave has formed in

Lower Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. Th ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and is located close to another very large cave system -

San Wang Dong San Wang Dong is a large Karst cave in the Wulong Karst formation region, located within Wulong County of Chongqing Municipality in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's L ...

. Both caves were explored by Hong Meigui Cave Exploration Society. Local people make weather forecasts based on the observations in Niubizi tiankeng - if there is a fog coming from the cave, rain is expected.

References

Caves of Chongqing Karst caves Karst formations of China {{Chongqing-geo-stub

See also

References