Stone Forest (Shi Lin)

The Stone Forest is situated in the Lunan Yu Autonomous County 126 kilometers southeast of Kunming. A typical karst formation, the Stone Forest covers an area of more than three hundred square kilometres. Scientific research has shown that what is now the Stone Forest was 270 million years ago an immense expanse of water with a vast stretch of limestone sediment formed over the years on the seafloor. As a result of the crustal movement, the seabed rose gradually and a large piece of land thus came into being. Exposed to rains and winds, eroded by the elements, the thrtist-up limestone ranges were shaped bv time. About 200 million vears ago numerous stone peaks, pillars, and stalagmites rose abruptly from the ground and towered into the sky, extending now as far as the eye can see, looking like a vast forest of stone, hence the name "the Stone Forest".

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