Wuhua Hai

Five-Flower Lake

Useful Information

Location:
Open:	No restrictions. [2011]
Fee:	free. [2011]
Classification:	Karst Spring Tufa Deposits Sinter Terraces
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	A=2,472 m asl.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Five-Flower Lake.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1978	National Park established.
1992	inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Description

Wuhua Hai (Five-Flower Lake) is regarded as the most beautiful lake of the Jiuzhaigon NationalPark. And this national park is rich in lakes, it has the legendary 108 haizi (literal son of the sea, meaning multicolored lakes). Those lakes were, according to legend, created by an ancient Goddess who dropped a mirror her lover had given her. It broke into 108 pieces which became those colourful lakes.

The lake is rather shallow and has a unique colour of different shades of turquoise. The floor is littered with fallen ancient tree trunks, the floor between the trunks and plants pure white. The colour is caused by the high amount of dissolved limestone, a typical thing in karst area. The water absorbs the sunlight, but the blue part of it is less affected. As a result the water becomes a blue filter and the colour is best seen in sunshine.

The fact that there are so many lakes is actually also a result of the karst. The limestone which is dissolved in the water deposits in the bed of the river an causes the white limestone deposit on the ground. It also covers plants and trees and form dams of sweetwater limestone or tufa, also called travertine. Those dams or rimstones form series of pools conected by waterfalls or rapids. The most impressive dams are the Pearl Shoal Waterfall, which is 310 m wide, and the NuorilangFalls which are 320 m wide.

Jiuzhaigon National Park is a high-altitude karst (~2,500 m asl) shaped by glacial, hydrological and tectonic activity. The rocks are mostly dolomite and limestone, but there are also sandstone and shales.