Scientists have found an entire forest hidden at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China! The discovery was made earlier this month in the south of the country by explorers who found three cave entrances. Experts say the sinkhole contains lots of ancient trees and plants, some of which are 40 metres tall.

Cave explorers in the Guangxi region of China have found a secret ancient forest hidden inside a 630-foot-deep sinkhole. As seen in a Twitter video posted by the China state-affiliated media organization CGTN earlier this month, the karst sinkhole — formed by rainwater that dissolves bedrock — exceeds 5 million cubic meters in area.

An enormous sinkhole with an ancient forest inside has been discovered by cave explorers in China. The sinkhole in Leye County, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is 630 feet deep and home to primitive trees that are growing as tall as 131 feet, the Xinhua news agency reported.

At the bottom of the newly discovered 630-foot deep sinkhole lies a hidden forest, lush with shoulder-high flora and tall trees. Researchers also think there may be new species of animals and plants within the sinkhole, which is made up of three caves and measures 5 million cubic meters, the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic swimming pools.

The ancient forest was discovered in a Geopark located in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region called the Leye Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark. About 60% of the site is covered in carbonate rocks from Devonian to Permian over 3000m thick. This area holds the world's longest natural bridge and is well-known for being covered in caves.