Subterranean Stream Cave Landscape

Synonym: Underground river cave landscape

This is a landform composed of dry karst caves connected to caves containing underground rivers, in which cave development is ongoing and is creating caves that are fully or partially filled with water. Underground river caves (or cave systems) always have different layers. In general, the upper layers are dry caves, and developing underground river caves are in the lower layer. China’s underground river caves are mainly located in the southern Qinling Mountains, eastern Yunnan Province and west of the Guilin-Yichang areas. These vast areas include Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan and Hunan Provinces and Chongqing City. This area contains at least 2,836 underground rivers with a total length of approximately 13,919 km. Underground rivers are best developed in Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces, which account for 59.8% of China’s underground rivers. Caves favourable for water sports are more valuable for tourism, such as the Shui (Water)...