Taam Ja' Blue Hole Explained

See main article: article and Blue hole.

Taam Ja' blue hole
Location:in Chetumal Bay at the southeast corner of the Yucatan Peninsula
Depth:4200NaN0

Taam Ja' blue hole is an underwater sinkhole located in Chetumal Bay at the southeast corner of the Yucatan Peninsula. Its name means deep water in the Mayan language and, at over 420m (1,380feet) deep, it is the deepest known blue hole.[1]

Blue holes generate a distinctive blue color when seen from above and are typically only a few dozen meters deep.

It was discovered in about 2003 by a local diver who followed a grouper that went into its mouth. The hole was forgotten until the son of that fisherman began working with marine academic Juan Carlos Alcérreca-Huerta, who took soundings of its depth and was surprised by the results.[2] [3]

The mouth of the hole is nearly circular, with a major axis measuring, oriented about 10.76 degrees clockwise from North – similarly to the orientation of major faults in the area.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Alcérreca-Huerta . Juan Carlos . Reyes-Mendoza . Oscar F. . Sánchez-Sánchez . Joan A. . Álvarez-Legorreta . Teresa . Carrillo . Laura . 2024 . Recent records of thermohaline profiles and water depth in the Taam ja' Blue Hole (Chetumal Bay, Mexico) . Frontiers in Marine Science . 11 . 10.3389/fmars.2024.1387235 . free . 2296-7745.
  2. Web site: Poot . Jesus . Blue Hole Discovery: Divers Peer into the Deep in Mexico . youtube.com . . en . video . 2023-08-01 . 2024-05-09.
  3. News: Mysterious blue hole off Mexico is world's second largest. 9News, Australia. April 30, 2023.
  4. Juan C. . Alcérreca-Huerta . Teresa . Álvarez-Legorreta . Laura . Carrillo . Laura M. . Flórez-Franco . Oscar F. . Reyes-Mendoza . Joan A. . Sánchez-Sánchez . First insights into an exceptionally deep blue hole in the Western Caribbean: The Taam ja' Blue Hole. February 23, 2023. Frontiers in Marine Science. 10 . 10.3389/fmars.2023.1141160 . free .