| Actual Image
Fishing in HaLong Bay (12)
MLINES
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1305 W: 96 N: 1023]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (8484) | One of many fishing vessels which use the tranquil waters of Halong Bay which has almost 2000 islands in the surroundings. Early morning mist still hangs over the islands in the background.
What is 'Karst' limestone landscape?
It’s the technical term for a highly distinctive form of weathered limestone dominated by rounded conelike hills or steep or vertical sided ‘towers’. Although fengling (cone) and fengcong (tower) karst are different in appearance, they are sequential stages of a long process of formation. Fengcong towers developed from fengling cones that were steepened by water table undercutting.
The entire process required three key elements to coexist over millions of years:
a very deep layer of high-quality limestone (the limestone beds in Ha Long Bay are well over a kilometre thick)
continuous warm wet weather
slow, steady tectonic uplift – around a millimetre a year
The only area in the world where these requirements were fully satisfied was Southeast Asia, and particularly in what is now the Guangxi province of southern China and in Vietnam.
Source: www.haivenu-vietnam.com/pop-karst-formation.htm |
|
