2:58:07 PM | 3/25/2025
Dong Van Karst Plateau, recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark, is home to 17 ethnic groups. The long-term settlement of ethnic groups on the rock plateau has shaped its distinct and diverse cultural identity.
Despite historical changes and social development in all aspects, ethnic people on Dong Van Karst Plateau have always preserved their own identity with many unique and charming features. This place is famous for its overlapping mountains with sharp-edged limestone that shape a majestic landscape. Hidden within the mountains lies a network of pristine caves, largely untouched and undiscovered by tourists.
May Cave in Ta Lung commune, Dong Van district lies next to a road connecting Dong Van district and Meo Vac district. The entrance to the cavern is shaped like a giant lotus bud. The sunlight shining through the cave meets the rising water vapor to create a thin magical mist. That is why the locals call it May Cave (the cave of clouds).
Qua Na Cave in Tung Vai commune, Quan Ba district is a dry cave. The recently discovered cave still retains its pristine appearance and remains little known. Inside the cave are stalactite formations shaped like terraced fields and countless stalactites and stalagmites. The cave is more than 5km long, 60m high, with the widest part of 300m that forms a broad room.
Thiet Giao Long Pha Thach geological heritage site
By Provincial Road 176 from Meo Vac to Ha Giang City, Thiet Giao Long Pha Thach geological heritage site is in Sung Tra commune, Meo Vac district. Scientists have named this place Thiet Giao Long Pha Thach (Rock-Breaking Iron Dragon) or Sung Mang Dragon for its distinctive shape and features.
Dong Van Karst Plateau is primarily composed of limestone, but the "Sung Mang Dragon" stands out as a unique geological heritage.
The wide, slightly sloping mountainside, already transformed into a fertile rock field, suddenly winds like a dragon, rising 5-7m higher than the surrounding area and stretching 3-5m wide to shape a strip of hundreds of meters long. And, interestingly, it is not limestone.
Currently, there are two hypotheses about the composition, origin and formation of "Sung Mang Dragon". The first is believed to be a vein rock with a basic composition, called diabase, a type of volcanic rock rich in aluminum, iron and silicate minerals, cutting through limestone. The second seems to be more well-founded because it is proved by sample analysis. The rock mainly consists of aluminum hydroxide mineral nodules and iron hydroxide minerals, iron oxide in colloidal form, so it is called iron bauxite ore of sedimentary origin, commonly found in limestone regions in Northeastern Vietnam.
It is already known that bauxite is an ore for aluminum production and Vietnam has the largest bauxite reserves in the world, but that bauxite is formed by weathering of basalt volcanic rocks, which are abundant in the Central Highlands. While the iron bauxite ore mentioned above, with much smaller reserves, has a different origin. Very thick limestone layers are interspersed with clay layers, dissolved and washed away or volcanic rock layers may be weathered, washed away, leaving residues rich in aluminum and iron. These deposits are then dissolved, transported and concentrated in karst crevices, cavities and re-precipitated to form iron bauxite of sedimentary origin.
There is a common point in both hypotheses: The above aluminum and iron-rich minerals are very solid. That is why there are strange rock formations that stand high on the terrain when the limestone containing them is washed away and dissolved. In the heart of the geological heritage on the Dong Van Karst Plateau, there are not only geo-tourism discoveries but also many vast scientific research documents on geology.
Management Board of Dong Van Karst Plateau UNESCO Global Geopark
By Thanh Nga, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
