Tianliao Moon World Introduction
Tianliao's "Moon World" is a unique landscape known in geography as "badlands." It was formed due to the "regenerative effect" of the Earth's crust, where years of intense erosion by rainwater and river water have accumulated sediment on muddy rocks. After the movement of geological layers, the sediments further mixed with the muddy rocks, and through weathering and deposition, created today's terrain. It is only suitable for drought-resistant and salt-tolerant shallow-rooted plants (such as bamboo) and coastal plants to thrive. Along the Tai 28 Line from Tianliao to Cijin, there are more than twenty mud volcanoes of various sizes, often exhibiting intermittent eruptions. The scale of the eruptions depends on the accumulated pressure of natural gas and mud underground. The areas where the mud flows accumulate, after being eroded by rain, generate some unique small landforms, with Da Gun Shui and Xiao Gun Shui being the most convenient spots to observe the mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are "pseudo-volcanoes" where natural gas and mud underground are expelled to the surface through fractures in the shallow rock layers under high pressure. They are also a type of badland. Tianliao is the most developed area for badlands and mud volcanoes in all of Taiwan, with the badlands landscape formed by the GuTingkeng mudstone, exuding a desolate beauty reminiscent of an unprocessed geological ecology classroom, and it has developed unique products and cuisine. In October 2021, the Kaohsiung City Tourism Bureau held a hot air balloon event at the Love River and Tianliao Moon World, which received enthusiastic responses from various sectors, attracting many tourists from different places, allowing people to indulge their desire to experience flight and enjoy the beauty of Kaohsiung. The unique muddy rock terrain of Moon World rivals that of Cappadocia in Turkey, and the local area held its first hot air balloon tethered experience, stunning photographs igniting high inquiries online.
