World's largest known cave,' son doong'

Located near the Laos–Vietnam border, Hang Sơn Đoòng has an internal, fast-flowing subterranean river and the largest cross-section of any cave, worldwide, as of 2009, believed to be twice that of the next largest passage. It is the largest known cave passage in the world by volume.

Its name, Hang Sơn Đoòng, is variously translated from Vietnamese as 'cave of the mountain river' or 'cave of mountains behind Đoòng [village]'.[disputed – discuss]

As a solutional cave, it was formed in soluble limestone and is believed to be between 2 and 5 million years old.

The entrance to Hang Sơn Đoòng was found in 1991 by a local man named Hồ Khanh, while searching for agarwood, a valuable timber. Although he initially went to investigate further, he was discouraged upon approach by the sound of rushing water and the strong wind issuing from the entrance. Not thinking it to be of any great importance, by the time he returned to his home he had forgotten the exact location of the entrance. Later, he mentioned his discovery in passing to two members of the British Cave Research Association who were exploring in the local area. They asked him to attempt to rediscover the entrance, which he eventually managed to do in 2008, and in 2009 he led an expedition from the BCRA to the entrance.

This expedition, conducted between 10 and 14 April 2009, performed a survey of the cave and gave its volume as 38,500,000 m3 (1.36×109 cu ft). Their progress in exploring the cave's full length was stopped by a large, 60-metre (200 ft) high flowstone-coated wall, which the expedition named the Great Wall of Vietnam. The expedition returned in March 2010 and successfully traversed the wall, which allowed the explorers to reach the end of the cave passage. They estimated that the overall length of the cave system exceeded 9 km (5.6 mi).

Formed in Carboniferous/Permian limestone, the main Sơn Đoòng cave passage is the largest known cave passage in the world by volume – 3.84×107 cubic metres (1.36×109 cu ft), according to BRCA expedition leader Howard Limbert. It is more than 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long, 200 metres (660 ft) high and 150 metres (490 ft) wide. Its cross-section is believed to be twice that of the next largest passage, in Deer Cave, Malaysia. The cave runs for approximately 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) and is punctuated by two large dolines, areas where the ceiling of the cave has collapsed. The dolines allow sunlight to enter sections of the cave, resulting in the growth of trees as well as other vegetation.

By mid-2019, it became clear that the cave is connected by its underground river with a nearby cave called Hang Thung. This increases the effective volume of the cave by more than 1,600,000 cubic metres (57,000,000 cu ft).

The cave contains some of the tallest known stalagmites in the world, which are up to 70 m (230 ft) tall. Behind the Great Wall of Vietnam were found cave pearls the size of baseballs, an abnormally large size. The cave's interior is so large that it could fit an entire New York block inside, including skyscrapers, or could have a Boeing 747 fly through it without its wings touching either side.

[ogtainui]

Every short of this ive watched has said tha exact same thing bro was saying on tha joe rogan interview 😂😂

[justrich]

Son Doong - it means Cave of the Mountain River
Was first discovered in 1991 by a local and is estimated to be between 2 and 5 million years old.
The cave is more than 3 miles long.

[cyclonepsycho]

How did it go undiscovered until the 90's? It's hard for me to believe that no one throughout history knew of this place.

[CFN]

It is adapted for survival due to sunlight entrances oxygen entrances and water flow.

[nimomemre]

How this cave even not seen till 1991 I mean even a blind man will figure out this massive cave !

[quanganh]

Sơn Đòong là hang động lớn nhất nằm trong hệ thống khoảng 400 hang động, với tổng chiều dài hơn 210km trong hệ thống vườn quốc gia Phong Nha- Kẻ Bàng. Đó là theo khảo sát khoảng 30 % vườn quốc gia, đất mẹ luôn ẩn chứa nhiều bí ẩn mà chúng ta chưa biết!

[zezamby]

Humans are said to have lived underground when the earth was in twilight according to native descendants on the other side of the planet

[_Labyrinth_]

It’s largest by volume as I recall, Mammoth cave in Kentucky is largest by length, and there’s a few other metrics for measuring a cave’s size as far as I can tell, but the Caucasus mountains have the deepest caves with the worlds deepest being Veryovkina (?) cave if I remember correctly

[iuddin]

There’s another bigger cave undiscovered yet, where Gog and Magog are.

[douglas]

It wasn't discovered. The people living there have known of the cave's existence. It was "discovered" by Angelo scientist.

[kyleharris]

Surprised governments are not building doomsday shelters in that thing.

[benjammin]

Well what about that underground ocean they said not to long ago 🤔

[jaysway]

Can you live in there and is there people living in there or is it just a tourist attraction??

[Unknownpersonsx]

Worst place to be for hiding from earthquake

[Aawaas]

In Hinduism, this is called paataal lok.

[jewishhella]

This is where u want to live when the nukes hit

[dads_diy]

Yeah of this cave is millions of years old. It was NOT discovered in the 90s. Place has prolly been a sacred place for centuries until some white nikka made it popular

[thathighguy]

This is exactly what is said or copied from the joe rogan podcast

[OldDirtySanta]

Lol sound like the text is copied from Joe Rogan show !

[gahrilla_]

Kinda reminds me of the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park.