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Stone Forest

Coordinates: 24°49′31″N 103°19′25″E / 24.82528°N 103.32361°E / 24.82528; 103.32361
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Main entrance to the Shilin Stone Forest

The Stone Forest or Shilin (Chinese: 石林; pinyin: Shílín) is a notable set of limestone formations about 500 km2 located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China, near Shilin approximately 90 km (56 mi) from the provincial capital Kunming.

The tall rocks seem to arise from the ground in a manner somewhat reminiscent of stalagmites, or with many looking like petrified trees, thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. Since 2007, two parts of the site, the Naigu Stone Forest (乃古石林) and Suogeyi Village (所各邑村), have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the South China Karst.[1] The site is classified as a AAAAA-class tourist site.[2]

Features

Shilin

Shilin National Scenic Area (昆明市石林风景区) covers an area of 400 km2 (150 sq mi) and is divided into seven scenic areas as follows:

  • Greater & Lesser Stone Forests (大小石林) - also known as the Lizijing Stone Forest (李子菁石林)
  • Naigu Stone Forest (乃古石林)
  • Zhiyun Cave (芝云洞)
  • Lake Chang (长湖 literally Long Lake)
  • Lake Yue (月湖 literally Moon Lake)
  • Dadieshui Waterfall (大叠水瀑布)
  • Qifeng Cave (奇峰洞)

These formations, caused by the weathering of limestone, are believed to be over 270 million years old[3] and are a tourist attraction for both overseas and domestic 'tourists, with bus tours bringing tourists from Kunming. There are also a number of hotels in the area. 


                                THE WORLD IS BURNING!!!!!!!!!

I am Jack Pearlwater and this is how my story began.Now I know what you are thinking this is supposed to be interesting but it will be I promise. Now my story began in math class. Me and my best friend Adam Brookes were goofing off and not paying attention.“Adam Brookes!!!” yelled Ms. Brewgster. “ What are you doing? “Um…. I was….. Uh…… I was working. Yeah.” said Adam “okay then ``Ms Brewgster said “ what is the answer to question 13.” I looked at question 13 and quickly did some math. I whispered in his ear “11. ”11” Adam said Ms.Brewgster said “correct!” Adam said to me ”thanks for helping me out bro”. As we continued talking, time flew by and it was time to go to the gym. As we were in the hallway we started talking about how we were going to make a new comic together.As we enter the P.E room we start to wonder what Ms.Ashgley will want us to do for P.E.We sat down in our seats at the tables in the middle of the room. The gym was a circular dome with a glass ceiling and bleachers lining the yellow walls. The floor was coated in dirt and gravel. All in all it looked like a gladiator arena.At this time I realized it was the big dodgeball face off.The crowd in the stadium erupted in cheering and clapping. Ms. Ashgley jumped from the bleachers and landed right in front of our table. She spoke into a megaphone she was holding, “well folks, it's time we started this battle of the dodgeballs!” she said. As the crowd cheered she turned to us and said in a quiet voice, “where have you all been? We've been waiting here for you for 1 minute! You're clate!” we all sighed. “Yes Ms.Ashgley.” we all said in unison “sorry Ms.Ashgley.” we all stood up so we wouldn't be flung. Sure enough Ms Ashgley picked up the table and threw it across the arena. “Damn” Adam said. “Okay folks it's time to split into teams and set up the balls.”Ms.Ahshgley said “ he,he,he” Jimmy Chestnut laughed, “she said balls!” I rolled my eyes. We split up into teams and set up the balls. (more laughter from Jimmy) with the blow of a whistle the game began. People were throwing balls every which way. I was dodging, ducking, squirming, looking like a dying penguin, as well as sliding. Adam was walking calmly toward a ball in the middle of the arena. Every now and again he would step aside to avoid a ball. But most of the time he just caught them. He was beaten to the ball by Jimmy and as Jimmy threw the ball in slow motion like some tv show. Just as the ball left his fingers an oblong floating something of light appeared in the middle of the arena. Exactly where Jimmy’s ball was going. It hit the glowing thing and disappeared. We heard a bonk! Followed by a guttural scream like a banshee. And out of the glowing portal (oh yeah, spoiler alert i was pretty sure it was a portal at this point.) came , guessed it!, a banshee. It burst out of the portal and attacked the nearest innocent screaming person. Me being the heroic person I am , I said, very heroically, “aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and hid.

Culture

According to legend, the forest is the birthplace of Ashima (阿诗玛), a beautiful girl of the Yi people. After falling in love she was forbidden to marry her chosen suitor and instead turned into a stone in the forest that still bears her name.[4] Each year on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, many Yi people celebrate the Torch Festival (火把节 Huǒbă Jié), which features folk dances and wrestling competitions.

Geology

The Stone Forest area was a shallow sea some 270 million years ago. Extensive deposits of sandstone overlain by limestone accumulated in this basin during the Permian period of geologic time. Uplift of this region occurred subsequent to deposition. Later, exposure to wind and running water shaped these limestone pillars. These formations extend as far as the eye can see, looking like a vast forest of stone, hence the name "The Stone Forest".[5] The Major and Minor Stone Forests are developed in the nearly pure limestone of the Permian Makou Formation. The Naigu Stone Forest, 9 km northeast of the Major Stone Forest, is developed in dolomite and dolomitic limestone of the Permian Qixia Formation. Both formations are of Lower Permian age. They aggregate 505m in thickness and consist of shallow water (platform) massive limestone and dolomite, bio-clastic limestone, calcarenite and calcilutite. The Maokou Formation at Stone Forest appears to have been heavily altered diagenetically, and macroscopic fossil remains are seldom seen. Under the microscope, single whole or fractured fusulinid foraminifera are seen, commonly in biomicrite, biopelmicrite to biopelmicrosparite limestones. At least one zone of chert nodules occurs in the limestone, Unlike in the dolomitic Qixia Formation, dolomite in the Maokou Formation seldom ranges above 3%.

The strata are part of a gentle (2-6 degrees) westward dipping monocline. Conjugate shear joints (NE-SW and NE-SE) are well developed and these fractures provided the main passageways for surface water and underground water in the pre-karst development stage. The distribution, density and orientation of the fractures controlled the depth, size and orientation of the karst topography. Sandstones and shales of the Liangshan Formation that lies below the carbonate rock formations serve as a permeability barrier and force the local groundwater to flow from west to east.

Flora

The Shilin Karst area has the following types of forests and plant communities.[6]

Other plant species

See also

References

  1. ^ "Twenty-two new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, and one deleted during Committee meeting in Christchurch". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. June 29, 2007. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  2. ^ Chris Ryan, Gu Huimin and Fang Meng (2009). "Destination planning in China". In Chris Ryan and Gu Huimin (ed.). Tourism in China: Destination, Cultures and Communities (1 ed.). pp. 11–37. ISBN 9780203886366.
  3. ^ Stone Forest from travelchinayunnan.com Archived 2007-11-22 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "The legend of Ashima (阿诗玛的传说)" (in Chinese). Yunnan Provincial Government Website. April 26, 2005. Archived from the original on April 12, 2006. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  5. ^ "Geoscience Resources".
  6. ^ UNESCO: South China Karst

Further reading

  • A virtual field trip to the stone forest, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China.
  • Zhang, S. (1997). Stone forest in China and pinnacle karst in Madagascar. In: Song, L. et al. (eds.) Stone Forest, a Treasure of Natural Heritage. China Environmental Science Press (see pp. 78–80), Beijing.
  • [1] How do stone forests get their spikes?
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shilin (Stone Forest).

24°49′31″N 103°19′25″E / 24.82528°N 103.32361°E / 24.82528; 103.32361

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