World's deepest blue hole is discovered in Mexico: Huge abyss extends at least 1,380ft below sea level - and scientists
World's deepest blue hole is discovered in Mexico: Huge abyss extends at least 1,380ft below sea level - and scientists are yet to reach the bottom of it- Blue holes are underwater sinkholes that can span the length of skyscrapers
- Discovery means the previous record-holder in China is now the second-deepest
PUBLISHED: 05:22 EDT, 30 April 2024 | UPDATED: 06:52 EDT, 30 April 2024
It's well known that there are black holes outside of our solar system. But equally mysterious features on Earth are blue holes – massive sink holes in our oceans that can span the length of skyscrapers.
Thought to have been formed during the latter ice ages, blue holes are seen as 'ecological hot spots' with an abundance of plant and animal life.
Now, scientists have identified the largest blue hole in the world, located in Chetumal Bay off the coast of Mexico.
Known as Taam Ja', which means 'deep water' in Mayan, it reaches at least 1,380 feet (420 meters) below sea level – and scientists haven't even reached the bottom of it.
Bird's eye shot (left) of the entrance of Taam Ja' - the world's deepest blue hole - as well as subaquatic view of the mouth of the hole (right)
Taam Ja' is located in Chetumal Bay off the southeastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13365633/Worlds-deepest-blue-hole-Mexico.html
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By Sascha Pare published 22 hours ago
Scientists have yet to reach the bottom of the Taam Ja' Blue Hole in Mexico's Chetumal Bay, which new measurements hint could be connected to a labyrinth of submarine caves and tunnels.
An aerial view of the Taam Ja' Blue Hole.
The Taam Ja' Blue Hole sits underwater in Chetumal Bay, Mexico. (Image credit: Joan A. Sánchez-Sánchez)
Mexico's Taam Ja' Blue Hole is the deepest known underwater sinkhole in the world, researchers have discovered — and they haven't even reached the bottom yet.
New measurements indicate the Taam Ja' Blue Hole (TJBH), which sits in Chetumal Bay off the southeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, extends at least 1,380 feet (420 meters) below sea level.
That's 480 feet (146 m) deeper than scientists initially documented when they first discovered the blue hole in 2021, and 390 feet (119 m) deeper than the previous record holder — the 990-foot-deep (301 m) Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, also known as the Dragon Hole, in the South China Sea.
"On December 6, 2023, a scuba diving expedition was conducted to identify the environmental conditions prevailing at the TJBH," researchers wrote in a study published Monday (April 29) in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. During the expedition, the researchers took measurements with a conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiler — a device with a set of probes that read and transmit water properties to the surface in real time via a cable. The data revealed that the Taam Ja' blue hole is "the world's deepest known blue hole, with its bottom still not reached," the researchers wrote in the study.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/deepest-blue-hole-in-the-world-discovered-with-hidden-caves-and-tunnels-believed-to-be-inside
