武隆喀斯特的“三絕”

武隆有三個(gè)獨(dú)立喀斯特系統(tǒng)，即芙蓉洞洞穴系統(tǒng)、天生三橋喀斯特系統(tǒng)和后坪沖蝕型天坑喀斯特系統(tǒng)。這三個(gè)自然景觀可稱作“中國南方喀斯特三絕”?？λ固卦杏龅娜齻€(gè)自然景觀，不僅演示著正在進(jìn)行的地球內(nèi)外引力地質(zhì)作用，而且蘊(yùn)藏著不同地質(zhì)條件下喀斯特發(fā)育、演化的秘密，甚至是解讀長(zhǎng)江三峽形成機(jī)理的一把鑰匙。

芙蓉洞洞穴系統(tǒng)

芙蓉洞—天下第一洞

芙蓉洞洞穴群發(fā)育于寒武系和奧陶系碳酸鹽巖中，由同汽坑洞、摔人洞、衛(wèi)江嶺洞、垌壩洞、新路口洞、水簾洞、芙蓉洞、干矸洞和四方洞等洞穴組成，以汽坑洞為代表的垂向洞穴是洞穴探險(xiǎn)愛好者和探險(xiǎn)家的樂園，以芙蓉洞為代表的橫向洞穴，則是游人崇尚的最佳去處，有“天下第一洞”的美稱。

芙蓉洞，位于距武隆縣江口鎮(zhèn)4公里處的芙蓉江畔，發(fā)現(xiàn)于1993年5月。經(jīng)中國與澳大利亞有關(guān)溶洞科研機(jī)構(gòu)兩次實(shí)地勘測(cè)，評(píng)價(jià)為：“世界奇觀，一級(jí)洞穴景點(diǎn)”“一座地下藝術(shù)宮殿和洞穴科學(xué)博物館”。

芙蓉洞主洞長(zhǎng)2700米，總面積3.7萬平方米，其中“輝煌大廳”面積1.1萬平方米，最為壯觀。洞中主要景點(diǎn)有金鑾寶殿、雷峰寶塔、玉柱擎天、玉林瓊花、海底龍宮、巨幕飛瀑、石田珍珠、生命之源、珊瑚瑤池等。進(jìn)芙蓉洞游覽，使人感受到大自然的神奇造化。芙蓉洞是中國唯一洞穴類世界自然遺產(chǎn)、國家AAAAA級(jí)旅游景區(qū)、國家地質(zhì)公園、《中國國家地理》評(píng)選出的中國最美洞穴。

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—原生態(tài)喀斯特峽谷經(jīng)典

芙蓉江是國家重點(diǎn)風(fēng)景名勝區(qū)，面積152.8平方公里，主要游覽河道20公里，游船游程3小時(shí)。景區(qū)以獨(dú)特水上原始森林和“U”型峽谷、江河風(fēng)光為主，行舟江中，水、灘、瀑、泉、崖、石、林等景色或藍(lán)如黛，或綠如玉，或白如雪，或亮如鏡，變幻無常。

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.

天生橋群系統(tǒng)

天生三橋—世界上規(guī)模最大的串珠式天生橋群

武隆天生橋早在500年前的明代《一統(tǒng)志》中就有相關(guān)記載，分布在長(zhǎng)度為10公里三疊系下統(tǒng)的碳酸鹽巖河段，由峽谷干谷、伏流、天生橋、天坑、洞穴、喀斯特泉組成，峽谷深200—400米，尤以其中的羊水峽和龍水峽地縫式巖溶峽谷最為壯觀；三座喀斯特天生橋，分布在同一峽谷的1.5公里的范圍內(nèi)，橋間又是天坑，這在世界上可能是別無二例。天龍橋發(fā)育有兩個(gè)穿洞，南穿洞為迷魂洞，北穿洞為如今的天生橋通道，其形狀酷似人工橋梁。青龍橋因雨后飛瀑自橋面傾瀉成霧，夕照成彩虹，似青龍直上而得名，黑龍橋因其拱洞幽深黑暗似有一條青龍蜿蜒于洞而名。天龍橋、青龍橋和黑龍橋3座天生橋總高度、橋拱高度和橋面厚度這三個(gè)天生橋最重要的指標(biāo)皆居世界第一位，其三大屬性更具有全球意義。

天生三橋是世界自然遺產(chǎn)核心景區(qū)、國家AAAAA級(jí)旅游區(qū)、國家地質(zhì)公園。以規(guī)模龐大、氣勢(shì)磅礴的三橋夾兩坑景觀稱奇于世，游覽路程3公里，游程約2小時(shí)，三座天然石拱橋，是至今已發(fā)現(xiàn)最大的石拱橋群。

鳥瞰武隆天坑三橋

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.

龍水峽地縫—探聽地球心跳

龍水峽地縫是世界自然遺產(chǎn)、國家地質(zhì)公園，典型巖溶峽谷地質(zhì)奇觀，全長(zhǎng)2公里，旅程1.5小時(shí)，俯瞰深邃不見其底，谷寬1米—10米，兩岸刀壁聳屹，仰頭望天一線。

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.

后坪沖蝕天坑系統(tǒng)

后坪沖蝕天坑，發(fā)育于奧陶系石灰?guī)r中，由地表溝溪、落水洞、豎井、天坑、化石洞穴、地下河和泉水組成，是一個(gè)包含從非喀斯特區(qū)到喀斯特區(qū)、從地表到地下、從上游到下游、從補(bǔ)給到排泄以至沖蝕天坑不同發(fā)展階段的完整喀斯特系統(tǒng)，如今發(fā)現(xiàn)的這一類型天坑在國內(nèi)外尚屬于“獨(dú)一無二”。后坪天坑最典型的為箐口天坑，箐口天坑形態(tài)完美，坑口呈橢圓形，最大和最小深度分別為295.3米、195.3米，自坑口視之，絕壁陡直，天坑深不可測(cè)，奇險(xiǎn)無比。自坑底仰視，四周絕壁直指天穹，引頸仰視，坐井觀天，白云悠悠，天空湛藍(lán)，給人以超然物外、遠(yuǎn)離塵囂的感覺。如今，該自然景觀還處于原始狀態(tài)，尚未開發(fā)。

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