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2017 Vol.127 No.1

Karst Topography“Wanfenglin”in Guizhou Province, China

Karst terraces are widely distributed in Guizhou Province, China. “Wanfenglin”(forest of 10,000 peaks), located in the Southwest part of Guizhou Province, consists of a group of cone Karst at relative height of around 200m. This name is an appropriate expression in Chinese, since the array of peaks like trees in the forest. All of this area is composed of a limestone plateau formed in the Triassic period. The dominant geological structure of this area is aligned in the direction of from northwest to southeast (the direction of the plane). The planar parts of Wanfenglin are rift valleys among the Karst terraces, in which several oblique geological grabens are observed. Concentric circles of paddy rice fields are spread out in alluvial planes and typical disc sinkholes (dolines) are distributed along several planes. They are deduced to be corrosion dolines because of their disc shapes.

(Photograph and Explanation: Keiji NAKAIE Photographed on August 9, 2013)