Where are the karst landforms mainly distributed in China?

Karst landforms are mainly distributed in China's Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, as well as parts of Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Shanxi, Gansu and Tibet.

Karst landform is a landform formed by the dissolution and deposition of soluble rocks by groundwater and surface water, erosion and deposition, and gravity collapse, collapse and accumulation. Named after Slovenian karst plateau, it is also called karst landform in China, and it is one of the five major modeling landforms in China.

Karst landforms are divided into two categories: surface and underground. There are stone buds and karst gullies, karst funnels, sinkholes, karst depressions, karst basins and karst plains, peak clusters, peak forests and solitary peaks on the surface. There are caves, underground rivers and dark lakes underground.

In other parts of the world, karst landforms are mainly distributed in Dinara Mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the central plateau in France, the Urals Mountain in Russia, southern Australia, the central and eastern United States, the Greater Antilles and central and northern Vietnam.

Value meaning

Karst landforms have high aesthetic value because of their diverse sculpture landforms. Many karst landscapes have been developed into tourist attractions, such as Shilin in Yunnan, Libo in Guizhou, Wulong in Chongqing, Jinfo Mountain in Chongqing, Shibing in Guizhou, Guilin in Guangxi and Huanjiang, which are listed as "Karst in South China" in the World Natural Heritage List.

Cave is a safe place for shielding radioactive radiation, which can not only protect the important archives and materials of the country, but also protect the precious lives of soldiers and civilians in wartime. As far as the numerous caves in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces are concerned, the large caves can accommodate tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and the small caves can also be thousands.

The Yunnan-Guizhou region of China was not covered by a large area of glaciers during the Quaternary Ice Age, and became a refuge for many ancient animals and plants. In addition, the karst landform area has complex landforms and diverse habitats. For a long time, human beings have little interference with the environment in this area, and the species in Yunnan-Guizhou area remain intact.

Fan Jingshan in this area is also listed in the United Nations network of man and biosphere nature reserves and the World Natural Heritage List. Libo Maolan Karst Forest Nature Reserve still preserves the most complete karst virgin forest in the same latitude, with a forest coverage rate of over 90%.