Zhaojiaya Chaoyang Rift

Zhaojiaya Chaoyang Rift

Zhaojiaya is said to be named after Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty, who visited this area in his early years and formed an inseparable bond with its landscapes. It is located 28 kilometers from the county seat. The underground river cave is situated at the bottom of the Zhaojiaya Reservoir. It is an inflow-type underwater cave fed by an external river, with heights ranging from 30 to 80 meters, widths between 5 and 25 meters, and a total length of 1,550 meters. The cave passages are canyon-like, extending from south to north through the mountain with a drop of over 80 meters. Formed within a high-mountain peak-cluster karst canyon basin, the deep riverbed seeps through fractured layers of limestone, concentrating flow into water-bearing strata before undergoing dissolution, erosion, and collapse. This process created an underground channel parallel to the original riverbed, making it a subterranean river of a karst transit stream. The development history of the underground river likely parallels the karstification process of the region, serving as an important corridor for studying the developmental stages and formation times of the local peak-cluster karst. The role and significance of the transit river in the formation and evolution of the peak-cluster karst await further in-depth research by scientists.

After the construction of the Zhaojiaya Reservoir, the inlet source of this transit river was blocked, exposing a variety of extraordinary karst landforms shaped by the cave’s flow path. These include dissolution marks, flow marks, ripple marks, pits, dome pits, groove pits, vertical shafts, domed cave ceilings, skylights, rock sills, rock edge grooves, rock corners, abrasion pits, and sedimentary gravel, among others. The cave walls feature spectacular deposits such as stone lotuses, stone whiskers, stone curtains, stone waterfalls, and stone wall flows. The cave’s hydrological features include pools, ponds, karst springs, flowing waterfalls, and dripping waterfalls, all shrouded in mystery.

Location: Sanrong Village, Cili County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province

Transportation: Take a bus from Zhangjiajie City to Cili County, then transfer to a minibus to reach the site.