Impact of tourism activities on the cave environment and landscape of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) deposits at Shuijinggong cave, Bama county

Various landscapes of secondary chemical carbonate (CaCO3) sediments characterize the Shuijinggong cave in Bama, with many types such as stalactite, curtain drapery, stone waterfall, stalagmites, stalacto-stalagmites, and cave shield. Some of them, like-jade, white as snow, especially straw, helictite, and cave flower which are now growing in the top of cave, are rare landscapes at home and abroad.The Shuijinggong cave tour in Bama was developed in 2007. Since then tracing and monitoring of the cave environment and the landscapes of the secondary chemical carbonate(CaCO3) sediments have been carried out . We found that the quantity of cave seepage-flow water, drip water and pool water have been decreasing, while the temperature and CO2 concentration in the cave increase. In the meantime, the cave humidity and the concentration of air negative ions reduces, whereas photophilous plants such as algae, mosses and ferns extensively grow in the cave and the surface of cave landscape is contaminated by the decay of these cave plants with unfavorable color and by an aging phenomenon of the cave karst features. On the basis of the cave environmental degradation, it is put forward to take measures to protect the cave environment and restore its landscape and in turn provide a scientific basis for a reasonable development of the cave tourism resources.