Systematic exploration of karst (Xu Xiake)
Exploración sistemática del karst (Xu Xiake)
- Date
- 1637-1640 · confidence medium
- Place
- Guilin, Guangxi, China
- Credited to
- Xu Xiake
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Xu Xiake travelled on foot through southwest China and recorded in his diaries the form of caves, towers, sinkholes and underground rivers in the karst of Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan, attributing some to the action of water. It is one of the most extensive field descriptions of karst made before the 19th century.
The diaries were published after his death (1641) and partly lost; the southwestern expeditions are dated 1636-1640. His causal interpretation of karst forms is limited.
What it led to
- a descriptive corpus of Chinese karst used by modern Chinese geomorphology
- a precedent of scientific speleology, before the European 'karst school'