Here's what’s going on with the latest news about the world’s deepest sinkhole in China.
The Xiaozhai Tiankeng (also known as the “Heavenly Pit”) in Chongqing has long been cited as one of the deepest known sinkholes in China, and recent reports continue to highlight its immense depth and size, with measurements around 600+ meters deep in some sources. These updates emphasize its status as a major karst feature and its role as a unique ecosystem, including a self-contained forest in the lower chambers in some explorations.[5][6]
In 2024–2026, multiple outlets have covered new discoveries within Chinese sinkholes, including reports of discoveries of forests or ancient ecosystems inside large tiankengs, though precise depth figures can vary by site and measurement method. The broader theme remains that China’s karst regions host some of the world’s most dramatic underground cavities with unique biology.[9][10]
For the most current single-destination news: the Dragon Hole in the South China Sea (not in Chongqing) was historically described as the deepest underwater blue hole, with depth measurements around 300.89 meters, and was widely reported in 2016–2018; however, that site is separate from Xiaozhai Tiankeng and represents an underwater feature rather than a surface tiankeng. This distinction sometimes creates confusion in headlines about “deepest” sinkholes.[1][3]
Illustration (example): Imagine a vertical canyon carved into limestone so vast that it resembles a buried city—floor-to-ceiling enough to swallow a tall building, with a lush forest growing inside in some locations. That captures the awe around Xiaozhai Tiankeng and similar karst caverns in China.
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