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GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
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The Typical Phenomenon of Stone Forest
[Horizontal lines on the stone pillars]
A few horizontal lines can be seen on the tall stone pillars; those lines divide the stone pillar into sections. From distance, you will see these lines are connecting mutually, roughly in a horizontal plane. They are the planes of stratification, and are formed as the limestone deposits in the water.
[Stone forest and stone bud]
The stone pillars are different in size and height, the tall ones are called stone forest and the short ones are name stone bud. Stone bud and the stone forest are in an inheritance relationship. When the stone buds are continuously increased, the stone forest appears.
[The color of the stone forest]
Stone Forest is rich in color. Generally speaking, the Major Stone Forest is in Gray and the Naigu Stone Forest is in black. You will also notice red, brown and yellow colors when you take a close look. However, these colors are not the natural color of rocks, but gradually changed by dimorphism and biologicaction (especially the growth of algae), after the rocks had been exposed at the ground surface.
[Perforation]
Many cavities on the rocks are used to be the channel of the underground river earlier, they exposed to the surface after the earth's crust raising and water level declining.
[Cloud cave]
The limestone cave is a underground cave, formed by groundwater dissolution along the level and fissures of the rock. There are rich cave deposits such as stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone mantle and so on inside of the caves. The Stone Forest and the limestone caves constitute a three-dimensional karst landform from the earth surface to the underground.
[Holes on the stone pillars]
The holes on the rocks are used to be the channel of the underground river at a earlier stage. The underground water was flowing in these holes when the rocks are under the ground. Continuous corrosion makes the hole diameter expanding gradually. A piping network formed with these holes connecting one to another crisscross. The pipe network exposed to the surface after the earth's crust raising and water level declining.
[Lakes in Stone Forest]
There have always been some clean and peaceful small lakes in the Stone Forest, known as "Solution Lake". Rain erodes to the rock surface and fissures by running from top to bottom, from here to there and from all directions to one end. Under the lake, water is interlinked with the underground river, the dissolve material will be continuously discharged to the perimeter, which keeps forming the stone forest landscape.
[Open spaces in Stone Forest]
Travelers can walk along some narrow open spaces in the tall stone forest. The open space is known as the "Dissolution Corridor". Originally, there were rocks on the ground of these open spaces, but the rocks were very fragile, and the strong corrosion effect had the rocks dissolved and taken away by the water.
[Moss and algae]
Some lower plants such as moss and algae are growing on the surface of the rocks in the Stone Forest. They not only changed the color of the rocks, but also caused some tiny corrosion spots and holes on the surface of the rock, because of the organic aid secreted during the growth. So they are changing the micro-patterns of the rock surface as well.
[The chronological order of Stone Forest’s formation]
The formation of Stone Forest follows an order, which is considered as “Generation Relationship” of Stone Forest. Here we can see clearly see the stone forest on different heights. The higher Stone Forest located, the earlier it formed. On the contrary, the lower located Stone Forest formed at a late stage.
[Stone Forest and Vegetation]
Long-term geological evolution, geographical changes and natural selection, created karst vegetation types and ecosystems in harmony with the stone forest landscape. The evergreen broad-leaved forest here shares the natural harmonious combinations with the Stone Forest landscape.
[Corrosion in difference]
The uneven rock surface of Naigu Stone Forest, which looks like embossed emboss patterns and as pictographs, is caused by different corrosion. Light color limestone is easy to be dissolved by water, so it sinks. The strong anti-corrosion ability of dark color dolomite get it projecting outward.
[Baked ancient stone bud]
The black surface of some stone buds is a baked trace left by the red-hot magma.
These stone buds formed in 260,000,000 ago, afterwards as a result of the volcanic eruption, has been covered by the volcanic rock more than 200,000,000 years, only then could be brought to light recently.
[Why do some stone pillars collapse?]
The stone pillars collapse under two conditions: one is “corrosion collapses”, namely as a result of corrosion at the bottom, the peak of the stone pillar becomes heavy, and then the whole pillar loses the balance and collapses. Another one is “dynamic collapse”, namely the stone pillar collapse under the external force influence, such as the earthquake and so on.
[Yellow strips on the rock]
There are often some yellow stripes on the stone pillars and rock surface, which is not the color of the rock itself, but the water stains, or traces of water flow. In the rainy season, the water that gathered on the rock surface will flow in these spots; the iron muddy sedimentation of the water stains the rock surface with the yellow strips.
