| Great Blue Hole | |
|---|---|
 The Great Blue Hole | |
| Location | Lighthouse Reef, Belize |
| Coordinates | 17°18′55″N 87°32′4″W / 17.31528°N 87.53444°W |
| Depth | 124 m (407 ft) |
Great Blue Hole
Location of the Great Blue Hole off the east coast of Belize.
The Great Blue Hole is a large marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km (43 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, 318 m (1,043 ft) across and 124 m (407 ft) deep.[1][2] It has a surface area of 70,650 square metres (760,500 sq ft). It was formed during several phases of the Quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in the Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000, 66,000, 60,000, and 15,000 years ago. As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded.[3] The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[4]
- ^ The Great Blue Hole of Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize, Central America: Deep Technical Diving to Collect Sea-Level Records. Transactions of the Fifteenth Caribbean Geological Conference. 2002. ISBN 9789766401009.
- ^ "Expedition Survey of Belize's Great Blue Hole with Ellipse INS sensor". Geo-matching. Retrieved 21 September 2023..
- ^ "Belize Blue Hole reef". NASA. 3 April 2009.
- ^ UNESCO World Heritage Foundation. "Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System". Retrieved 11 January 2023.