The Stone Forest developed mainly from Permian pure limestone (Maokou Formation) and dolomitic limestone (Qixia Formation). Karstification processes included subsoil erosion, subaerial erosion, and biological erosion. All these solution actions left their imprints on the rocks.  Besides macro-karst shapes, a wide variety of beautiful micro-solution forms occurred on the rock surfaces such as rillenkarren, solution grooves, solution holes, solution slots, etc. Due to lithologic difference, the solution grooves and rillenkarrens developed on pure limestone are uniform and smooth, as though made by knife or axe, while those developed on dolomitic limestone are rough, varied and disordered. Various micro-solution forms decorate the stone pillars as exquisite relief sculptures and enrich the beauty of the stone forest.

Rillenkarren

Various rock surface solutions