Hong Chi Ba Area

Introduction and Area Map

The Hong Chi Ba area is a mountainous karst region, part of the Da Ba Shien Mountain range in Sichuan Province. It is largely composed of Triassic limestone over lain by Permian shale. Cave entrances, shake holes and depressions are to be found at least as high as 2500 metres. Resurgences are to be seen all the way down to the Yangtze River, giving a theoretical depth potential of around 2000 metres.

Hong Chi Ba: 31º32'N 109º01'E

In 1994 Professor Zhu Xuewen, of the Guilin Karst Institute, suggested Hong Chi Ba as an area of speleological interest. In 1995 Andy Eavis and I made a short recce with Professor Zhu and this was followed in 1996 by a team of five from the UK, who stayed two and a half days on route to Jiang Kou. We were convinced there is potential for a longer investigation of this region.

Since then it is believed a French team have spent time in the area, but nothing much is known of their discoveries.

Click here for large scale map.
(File size 190KB)

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