| Taam Ja' blue hole | |
|---|---|
| Location | in Chetumal Bay at the southeast corner of the Yucatán Peninsula |
| Coordinates | 18°37′15.95″N 88°9′59.04″W / 18.6210972°N 88.1664000°W |
| Depth | 420 m (1,378 ft) |
Taam Ja' blue hole is an underwater sinkhole located in Chetumal Bay at the southeast corner of the Yucatán Peninsula. Its name means deep water in the Mayan language and, at over 420 metres (1,380 ft) 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 151.8 metres (498 ft), oriented about 10.76 degrees clockwise from North – similarly to the orientation of major faults in the area.[4]
- ^ 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. doi:10.3389/fmars.2024.1387235. ISSN 2296-7745.
- ^ Poot, Jesus (2023-08-01). "Blue Hole Discovery: Divers Peer into the Deep in Mexico" (video). youtube.com. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
- ^ "Mysterious blue hole off Mexico is world's second largest". 9News, Australia. April 30, 2023.
- ^ Alcérreca-Huerta, Juan C.; Álvarez-Legorreta, Teresa; Carrillo, Laura; Flórez-Franco, Laura M.; Reyes-Mendoza, Oscar F.; Sánchez-Sánchez, Joan A. (February 23, 2023). "First insights into an exceptionally deep blue hole in the Western Caribbean: The Taam ja' Blue Hole". Frontiers in Marine Science. 10. doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1141160.