sciencetech-blog

comments

The world's biggest cave chamber has been founded in China, reports National Geographic News.

The huge Miao Room cavern, which measures 380.7 million cubic feet (10.78 million cubic metres) in volume, was recently declared the world's largest.

Laser-mapping was used by an expedition to work out it's size, exceeding the previous record holder of Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia by 10 per cent.

Mouse over the image below to zoom in 

In 2013 a British-led expedition used a cutting-edge laser scanner to measure several cave systems in unprecedented detail, including Gebihe's Miao Room, modeled here from the original laser data). Image credit: Juan Velasco/Martin Gamache/Lauren James/NGM Staff/Stefan Fichtel/Ixtract Gmbh/Joe Beeching

The 'supercave' is located in the Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park near Guiyang, China.

Some of the largest caves in the world are found here in the Guangxi and Guizhou Province. 

It was first documented by a Chinese-European geology team in 1989.

But it was not until last year that experts from the UK's University of Lancaster revealed its true size.

'To me, this is like discovering that K2 [the Himalayan peak] is larger than Everest,' Tim Allen, an expedition co-leader who studied the Chinese cave, told National Geographic.

The cave would comfortably fit a Boeing 747 - if you could get one in there - and is located about 325ft (100 metres) underground.

And it also contains stalagmites as tall as 148ft (45 metres), which are among the world's biggest.

The 'supercave' is located in the Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park near Guiyang, China

Although it was found in 1989 its size wasn't determined until a team from the University of Lancashire measured it last year

The cave two massive domed chambers connected by a 2,795-foot (852 metres) passage - with some suggesting it might actually classify as two chambers.

These formed thanks to the cave being located under a sea for 600 million years, accumulating miles-thick layers of sediments such as limestone in the process.

When it rains a stream runs through the chamber, which deepens it.

It has two massive domed chambers connected by a 2,795-foot (852 metres) passage - with some suggesting it might actually classify as two chambers.

The caves have not been fully explored, however, with the 3D laser-mapping technique being used to work out what most of it looks like.

Some portions of the cave are still unknown, however - marked by the black regions in the map of the cavern.

The cave would comfortably fit a Boeing 747 - if you could get one in there - and is located about 325 feet (100 metres) underground

The photographer's lights illuminate the green-hued Getu He river in the Miao Room. The Miao Room volume measurement exceeds Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia, the past title-holder, by about 10 percent. But the Malaysian cavern is still the world's largest by surface area, with some 1.66 million square feet