TL:DR – “Deep Blue Hole Discovered: Scientists Struggle to Reach the Bottom | World News”
- Taam ja’, an underwater sinkhole in Chetumal Bay, Belize, remains a mystery for scientists attempting to measure its depth.
- Initial sonar readings suggest it is about 900 feet deep, but accuracy is hindered by varying water conditions.
- Divers found uneven walls; a 1,640-foot cable failed to reach the bottom, raising questions about potential underwater currents affecting measurements.
- If proven deeper than the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, it could become the world’s deepest measured sinkhole.
Scientists find a blue hole so deep that they can’t reach the bottom | News World
The stunning underwater sinkhole holds mystery for scientists (Picture: Getty)
There’s an underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize that is so deep, scientists aren’t sure how far down it goes.
In Chetumal Bay, sinkhole Taam ja’, a ‘blue hole’, has proved to be a challenge for researchers trying to measure its depth.
Using sonar to map the hole, they found Taam ja’ is roughly 900 feet deep – but those measurements might be inaccurate, due to temperature and salinity changes in each layer of water.
Divers were sent into the hole, roughly 30 metres down, and found that the walls of the hole were squishy and uneven, before turning into firmer rock.
After anchoring a boat above the hole’s opening, a research team lowered a massive cable, measuring 1,640 feet, into the hole, but it wasn’t long enough to reach the bottom.
Researchers noted that the instrument could have been pushed sideways by currents and thrown off the measurements, but the mystery remains: how deep is Taam ja’?
Its unknown just how deep the massive hole goes (Picture: Frontiers in Marine Science)
Despite repeated attempts to measure the hole with long cables, there’s been no definitive measure of its depth.
For years, the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, in the South China Sea, was believed to be the deepest blue hole in the ocean.
If scientists can measure the depth of Taam ja’, it could replace the Sansha Yongle hole as the deepest measured sinkhole in the ocean.
It’s believed Taam ja’ could have a network of underwater caves and tunnels, making its measurement even more difficult.
Earlier this year, scientists were able to extract a sediment core from the bottom of the marine sinkhole that provided a 5,700-year storm archive.
The layers of sediment showed that over the past six millennia, on average, between four and 16 tropical storms pass over the hole per 100 years.
The Great Blue Hole lies around 60 miles off the coast of Belize City and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It was formed at the end of the last Ice Age when rising seawaters flooded a series of enormous caverns.
It’s thought the caves were formed about 153,000 years ago and completely submerged around 15,000 years ago.
The Hole is populated by several shark species, including Caribbean reef sharks, nurse sharks, hammerheads, bull sharks, and black-tip sharks.