Mexico’s Taam Ja’ Blue Hole is the deepest known underwater sinkhole in the world, researchers have discovered.
Key points
- New measurements indicate the Taam Ja’ Blue Hole 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).
- It is 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.
- Taam Ja’ Blue Hole sits in Mexico’s Chetumal Bay off the southeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
- Blue holes are water-filled vertical caverns, or sinkholes, found in coastal regions where the bedrock is made of soluble material, such as limestone, marble or gypsum.
- Blue holes form when water on the surface percolates through the rock, dissolving minerals and widening cracks, which eventually causes the rock to collapse.
- Famous examples of Blue holes: Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, the Dahab Blue Hole in Egypt and the Great Blue Hole in Belize.
