Dongquan Hot Cave

Brief Introduction of Dongquan Hot Cave

Dongquan Hot Cave is located at the hot cave bend, at the south part of Muer Mountain, Dongquan County, Ba'nan District of Chongqing. The Cave became famous because it is permeated with hot gas all years around. When the water comes, the hot gas in the cave rises. Dongquan Hot Cave is the only hot cave of Asia and one of the three hot spring and caves of the world. When you get into the cave, you will feel steaming hot, and the more you get into the cave, the hotter you will feel. After the natural bath of hot gas, you may get into the hot spring to take a shower, which may make you feel relaxed and free. The temperature of the hot spring is kept at about 40 degree Celsius. The mineral water of the hot spring is enriched in carbon and sulfur. The hot spring is awarded as the natural sauna wonder.

The Temperature in the Cave

The main cave is 112 meters long, composed of the front and back halls. The whole area of the cave is 650 square meters. The entrance of the hot spring is 67.7 from that of the main cave. The temperature at the entrance is only 12 degree Celsius, at 27 meters from the entrance is 26 degree Celsius, 50 meters is 31 degree Celsius and deeper into the cave, it gets over 40 degree Celsius.

The Conditions of Forming the Hot Cave

Two conditions are necessary for the formation of the Hot Cave, on one hand, there must be hot springs in the cave, what's more, the temperature must be high, on the other hand, it would be best if the shape of the cave is that of cucurbit, with the mouth small and abdomen big, which is in favor of the storage of the quantity of heat of the hot spring, to form the natural sauna.

The History of the Dongquan Hot Cave

The Exploit of Dongquan Hot Cave

In 1997, Dongquan County was in the period of exploiting the tourism, and many developers came there to build the vocational villages. There was no control over the exploit of hot spring resources, so people got crazy in the drilling of wells. In two years, in the scope of less than 1 kilometer from the village, there were 5 hot spring wells, some of which were only several meters away from the Hot Cave.

Since 2002, the amount of the water of Hot Cave has been decreased, and in some time, it even got cutoff.

The Preparation Work of Renewing Dongquan Hot Cave

In 2020, the Ba'nan government put forward the order of renewing the Dongquan Hot Cave. At that time, the Real Estate Bureau of Chongqing organized many experts for demonstrations five times. Finally, they reached a consensus that the Hot Cave can be resumed. Then the important task was put on the shoulder of the research institute of subterranean heat of Nanjiang. The general engineer of the institute said that with no reference, it was very difficult resume. More than 20 experts had made a research on the project for 2 years, after the comparison and analysis, they made a decision to drill wells in the cave. Much as hard and risky the task was, it can protect the primitive ecology.

The Renewing of Dongquan Hot Cave

On Mar.23, 2006, the Legal Report of CCTV had a subject of who is to protect the Hot Cave, making it public that the Dongquan Hot Cave was destroyed by people.On Oct, 25, 2006, the project of resuming the hot Cave began. On May, 26, 2007, the workers began to drill the well and the work lasted for 59 days, finally the depth of the well got to 384.2 meters. By the end of 2007, the whole project was accomplished. The amount of the water is ten times that of before, and the temperature is 7 degree census higher than before, all of which bring better heating effect for the Hot Cave.