Expedition goes deep to safeguard Shuanghe Cave

Students and teachers from Beijing Forestry University explore the Shuanghe Cave in Guizhou province in November. GENG GUOBIAO/FOR CHINA DAILY Beijing Forestry University students and teachers recently took part in a "crossover expedition" in Asia's longest cave in Guizhou province, conducting experiments with experts to better understand and protect its rare ecosystem. Zhou Wenlong, deputy director of the Guizhou Institute of Mountain Resources and an official with the Geological Society of China's Committee on Speleology, said during 35 years of scientific expeditions in Shuanghe Cave, international experts have discovered 40 giant panda fossils and geological relics of celestite. "It is the longest dolomite cave with the largest celestine area in the world," Zhou said, adding that the cave is described as a "karst natural cave museum". Although the eight university students and teachers are not experts in the field of speleology, they still found something familiar in the caves — lampenflora, autotrophic life-forms present in natural and artificial caves.