If there really is a paradise in the world, then the hot and cold cave is one of the wonderlands.
In the western part of Hubei Province, China, there is an ancient and mysterious primeval forest area - Shennongjia.
Shennongjia is like a big mystery. Savage legends, exotic flowers and plants, exotic beasts, hot and cold caves... All of them have aroused people's reverie and speculation. In particular, the strange sights and magical temperature transients in the hot and cold caves make people marvel at the magic of nature.
The hot and cold cave, 1,500 meters above sea level, 5 kilometers long, the huge space in the cave is enough to accommodate more than 20,000 people. The entrance of the hot and cold cave opens to the south, which is eye-catching and full of mystery. Standing with the back of the hole, the thousand-year-old iron fir straight into view, the howling wind blowing in the face, making people suddenly feel awe.
According to locals, the best time to explore the cave is in spring and summer. At that time, as long as people stand at the entrance of the cave, they will obviously feel the cold air and can't help but shiver. But if you think that the characteristics of hot and cold caves are only unusually cold in spring and summer, it is a big mistake.
The hot and cold cave got its name because walking through the cave that is only 5 kilometers long allows people to experience the different characteristics of the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The inexplicably changing temperature makes people feel as if some god is playing a prank. When people first enter the cave, they will feel a cold breath coming from the depths of the cave, and if they continue to walk forward, they will feel the heat wave rolling.
Not only that, the hot and cold cave is wet and dry at the same time. In summer, standing in a wet place will feel a cool breeze, as if someone has poured a bucket of cool spring water from head to toe, and standing in a dry place, you will feel hot and dry, like walking on a summer afternoon under the scorching sun; In winter, standing on the wet side greets people with a biting cold wind, while standing on the dry side feels warm and comfortable, like a spring breeze.
If you want to discover the secrets of the hot and cold cave and experience the wonderful feeling of being in it, you must be there. Unfortunately, the hot and cold cave in Shennongjia is complicated, although it is only 5 kilometers long, but halfway through, people will have to stop due to the sudden reduction of the space in the cave, and they cannot go to the bottom of the cave to explore. And the key to uncovering the secrets of the hot and cold cave is likely to be hidden at the bottom of the deep cave.
There are thousands of stalagmites, stone pillars, stone drums, and stone curtains in the hot and cold caves, and the temperature difference between hot and cold makes more and more people curious about the hot and cold cave.
In fact, Shennongjia is not the only one in China that has such wonders. In Guizhou, where karst terrain is full of landforms, there is also a peculiar hot and cold cave. Interestingly, the temperature difference in this hole is not a lateral transformation, but a vertical transformation. People walking in caves, the upper body seems to have heating gushing, but the lower body is like an ice cave.
Some geologists believe that the temperature contrast in the hot and cold cave is caused by the difference in the structure of the surface rock in the cave and the rock at the top of the cave. The rock on the ground inside the cave is a peculiar "ice stone" that absorbs heat, and the rock at the top of the cave happens to have the function of releasing heat. The interaction of the two rocks constitutes the scene of "hot up and cold down" in the cave. Similarly, in the hot and cold caves of Shennongjia, the cold area is full of "ice stones" that absorb heat, and the warm area is full of rocks that release heat.
However, many people pointed out that for the time being, leaving aside the fact that the rocks in the Shennongjia hot and cold cave do have the characteristics of heat absorption and heat dissipation, in the case of the cold and hot cave in Guizhou, the upper and lower parts of the cave are almost evenly gathered with two completely different rocks, which is too coincidental.
Today, this mystery of inexplicable temperature changes is part of the mysterious beauty of hot and cold caves.