Scientists Found Prehistoric Forest in a Giant Sinkhole

0:00Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands for the Super Athletic stuff like running gear for cruising up the trail Woo! And the Super Athlete is stuff like fishing gear for chilling by the creek. Nice cast If it is a pair of the push for higher reps, you got this and golf balls price so you can afford to lose one Or a few Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all from athletic to a flatish Sierra's got it Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha Try it today at Starbucks Imagine you are walking to your car in the morning, but there is a problem your vehicle is not sitting neatly by the side of the road It's rear end is sticking out of a gaping hole This is what happened to a Queen's resident New York back in

1:002020 a sinkhole had swallowed his SUV overnight Events like this are nothing out of the ordinary in many parts of the globe But sometimes sinkholes can hide unspoken beauty inside them In East Asia a recent fine stunned the scientific community Cave explorers came across a colossal sinkhole that concealed an ancient forest It is located in a province Guangji Zhuang close to the north of Vietnam the lay county Where researchers discovered the hidden forest is already famous worldwide for sinkholes This one brings the number to 30 they are scattered over an area the size of three Gibraltar's This is just a tenth of the total number of sinkholes in the whole country The name Tiankeng for these large holes in Earth's surface translates as skyholes or heavenly pits The dimensions of the new sinkhole are impressive It is over a thousand feet long and it's pretty deep too

2:01You could fit the great pyramid of Giza one and a half times inside it the sinkhole's total volume matches that of 2000 Olympic swimming pools the exploration team had to hike for hours to reach the bottom It was all worth it in the end They discovered a pristine underground forest that had no trace of human activity Scientists estimate that the plants date back to the time of the dinosaurs The foliage reached to the explorers shoulders some trees were two times taller than the Hollywood sign This discovery was amazing, but not entirely unexpected Geologists were familiar with this type of landscape in this part of East Asia Carst topography is pretty common the word is Slavic in origin Since the late 19th century Geologists have been using it to describe barren limestone regions This type of landscape features fishers in the ground caves underground streams and of course sinkholes

3:03Carst forms in parts of the world with heavy rainfall the water dissolves materials such as limestone Introducing shark facial proglow a first of its kind at home facial pro level extraction removes impurities and Dual temperature technology boosts radiance and deep puffs with both insta heat and insta chill technology Treat yourself to a hydro fueled glow in minutes and because shark facial pro glow fits in the palm of your hand You can get that luminous post spa glow anywhere visit shark beauty dot com to learn more This episode is brought to you by athletic brewing company no matter how you do game day on the couch in the crowd or Manning the snack table athletic brewing fits right in with a full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles You can enjoy bold flavors all game long no hangovers no buzz no subbing out for water in the second half Stuck the fridge for tip off with a variety of non alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at

4:06Athletic brewing dot com near beer fit for all times Own or dolomite This creates a scenery that many people describe as wild beauty Carst terrains have a practical purpose as well. They are ideal for storing water that humans can drink Around 700 million people around the world use these cast aquifers as their primary water source In the United States alone 40% of the groundwater used for drinking comes from them Springs of Florida and the mammoth cave in Kentucky are just some of the most famous carst areas Geologists classify around a fifth of the U.S. land surface as cast This type of terrain exists on other continents as well in the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, and Asia Due to local differences in climate and geology Cars doesn't appear the same everywhere In the Spanish province of Malaga the landscape consists of barren rock This is what the carst regions of Italy Slovenia and Montenegro also look like

5:10In East Asia the landscape over the carst is green. This is because of the humid tropical climate Syncles and cave entrances are usually hidden behind lush vegetation The region's unique appearance got it inscribed on the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2007 The world's second most populous country is home to two-thirds of the planet's natural occurring sinkholes Tienkengs They start to form when rainwater seeps into cracks in the limestone Over time the gaps widen as more and more material is washed away At one point the ground above the limestone becomes unstable The end result is the collapse of the surface layer This happens suddenly and without prior warning signs once a hole forms in the ground water starts filling it up Another way for a sinkhole to form is the existence of an underground cave its roof can collapse The shape of such sinkholes resembles a funnel

6:10It is wider at the opening on the top and narrower near the bottom of the pool The most famous of these sinkholes are cenotes they occur naturally on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico The region is home to more than two thousand cenotes They are all former caves whose roofs had collapsed at some point in time and they are filled with fresh water The local people have been using them as water sources for thousands of years The ancient Mayas gave the mystical symbolism for them the cenotes were passageways to the other world In reality, they are just a feature of Karst terrain sinkholes that form in regions with abundant rainfall and limestone beneath the surface soil The depth of a sinkhole can vary significantly The smallest are barely three feet deep when it fills up with water It turns into a pond a large lake can form in the place of a large sinkhole One example is the red lake in Croatia the most impressive thing about it are the steep cliffs that rise above the lake

7:13They are nearly 800 feet tall The world's biggest and deepest sinkhole, Xiaoshai Tiankeng lies in the vicinity of the Yangtze River The outside world discovered it only in 1994 The hole is so deep that you could stack up seven statues of liberty inside it During the rainy season a waterfall cascades from the This episode is brought to you by Peloton break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton cross-training tread plus Powered by Peloton IQ with real-time guidance and endless ways to move you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence Helping you reach your goals in less time let yourself run lift sculpt push and go Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at one peloton dot com Pits mouth into a cave system at the bottom But not all sinkholes fill up with water This was the case with the newly discovered giant sinkhole in Asia. It developed its own ecosystem

8:16The high humidity and low temperature inside it were perfect for plant life to thrive The very bottom of the hole is connected to an underground water flow Scientists discovered 72 species of rare wild plants in the area They are in danger of disappearing on the surface But inside the sinkhole they have found the perfect conditions for growth The enormous opening in the ground is essentially a wildlife refuge This was confirmed in 2021 That's when biologists discovered two species in the Yunnan province that they previously thought had gone extinct Who knows what other animal and plant species are still hiding in there? Exploring these underground cave systems can be quite dangerous They are often home to venomous snakes and mosquitoes even descending into a sinkhole is perilous The cliffs are steep and stones are often very sharp That's why the exploration of sinkholes in Asia is going slower than research would like

9:21The sinkholes I've mentioned so far have all formed naturally Erosion is the main process behind their creation But the ground can also open because of human activity Everything from a construction site to a leaking sewer pipe can cause the earth to give way Sinkholes in urban areas pose a risk to infrastructure One of the most famous examples of this happened in Japan in 2016 A busy street in downtown Fukuoka collapse near the main train station The sinkholes severed power lines and pipes that lay underground Luckily no one was injured The diligent Japanese engineers repaired the damaged road section in just 48 hours The biggest issue with sinkholes is that you never know when and where they are going to open The best tool that geologists have for detecting underground cavities is ground penetrating radar GPR It resembles a landmower The operator goes up and down a troubled area to scan the ground underneath

10:23The radar sends out impulses that detect any contrast between different materials It feeds back this info in the form of a 2D or a 3D image Once engineers detect a potential sinkhole, they use different techniques to stabilize the ground above it The simplest method is called grouting It involves filling the hole so it won't collapse The most common materials are polyurethane foam and cement The alternative is to lift a structure above the sinkhole This technique is called underpinning Workers drive steel rods into the load bearing deeper layer of soil This is the same construction method engineers use to erect stillt houses above the waterline How many discounts does USA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts, restrictions apply

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