The largest sinkhole of the world is 

Xiaozhai tiankeng –
incredible, up to 662 m deep pit with nearly vertical
walls. This is one of the most impressive natural
attractions on Earth.Tiankeng is a giant sinkhole with
vertical walls, at least 100 m deep and 100 m wide. Most
often bottom of tiankeng is crossed by an underground
river, which is open to daylight only here.First tiankengs
were documented in China in the early 1980s. The term
“tiankeng” was proposed in October 2001 by Zhu
Xuewen, China Cave Study Association and Institute of
Karst Geology in Guilin.

HOW TIANKENGS ARE FORMED?

Nearly all tiankengs have developed in carbonate rocks

with the noble exceptions of Sima Humboldt and Sima
Martel in Venezuela, which have formed in sandstone.

Like other sinkholes, tiankengs are formed by karst

processes (in carbonate rock) or suffosion (in
sandstone). In karst processes rock is dissolved and
carried away by flowing water, suffosion is a similar
process, where particles of sandstone or similar rock are
carried away by water.

Formation of tiankengs though requires very specific

conditions, and a combination of these factors is very
rare in nature. Thus – the correct recipe for a fine
tiankeng looks like this:
Ÿ There is needed extremely thick and very clean layer of
carbonate (or sandstone) rock. The thickness of the
rock should be at least 200 – 300 m. Any layer of
impurities will distort the process of formation.

Ÿ The layer of carbonate should be above sea level. It is

even
 better if the area is raised by tectonic processes. Thus,
for example, the Nakanai mountains in New Britain
(Papua New Guinea) rise by some 3 mm in a year, also
in China, the areas with tiankengs are rising.

Ÿ There is needed lots of rain. In areas with carbonate

rocks, this inevitably leads to the formation of
underground rivers. If the limestone layer is raised high,
these rivers are flowing several hundreds of meters
below the surface.

If this is in place, nature does its work and tiankeng is

formed.

In most cases there form collapse tiankengs – here

underground rivers form giant underground rooms which
at some moment collapse until the former cave room is
turned into a vertical pit. The water of a powerful
underground river dissolves the rock debris and carries
it away.

There are known cases when erosion

tiankengs develop – like Houping Tiankeng cluster
(Chongqing Municipality). These giant holes are created
by the source of underground rivers – here small
streams fall through the many hundred meters thick
limestone layers until they reach the impermeable rock.
Then these streams continue like underground rivers.
Gradually at this entrance is formed a hole which then
increases up to incredible proportions. Nowadays such
erosion tiankengs have beautiful waterfalls falling in
them.

Tiankengs seem to be more short-lived than most other

geological features. Initially, tiankeng forms as a smaller
hole above the giant cave collapse, then this hole
widens until the walls are vertical. Then walls gradually
erode and former tiankeng turns into forest-
covered, enormous bowl-shaped depression.

Tiankengs belong to the most spectacular geological

formations of the world and often house important
biological values.

LARGEST SINKHOLE IN THE WORLD –

XIAOZHAI TIANKENG

Xiaozhai tiankeng was discovered by specialists in 1994

during the search for a new exploration site for British
cavers in the China Caves Project.

In fact, it was well known to local people since ancient

times. Next to this sinkhole was a small village –
Xiaozhai. The name of the village in translation just
means “little village”. Nowadays it is abandoned.

Already in Chinese classical works frequently are

mentioned mysterious and deep ravines – possibly they
describe tiankengs.

Xiaozhai tiankeng has incredible size. This hole is 626 m

long and 537 m wide. The total depth is 511 – 662 m.
The area of the opening is 274,000 m², volume –
119.348 million m³. All these millions of cubic meters
have been dissolved and carried away by the river.

The sinkhole is a double nested structure – the upper

bowl is 320 m deep, the lower – 342 m deep, and 257 –
268 m across. Between both these steps is a sloping
ledge. This ledge has formed due to a muddy, “dirty”
layer in limestone.

In wet weather, there is seen waterfall falling into

tiankeng