Great Blue Hole

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 / 17.31528; -87.53444
Depth	125 m (410 ft)

Great Blue Hole

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Location of the Great Blue Hole off the east coast of Belize.

The Great Blue Hole is a giant

The site was made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who declared it one of the top five scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971 he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths.^[5] Investigations by this expedition confirmed the hole's origin as typical karst limestone formations, formed before rises in sea level in at least four stages, leaving ledges at depths of 21 m (69 ft), 49 m (161 ft), and 91 m (299 ft). Stalactites were retrieved from submerged caves, confirming their previous formation above sea level. Some of these stalactites were also off-vertical by 5˚^[1] in a consistent orientation, indicating that there had also been some past geological shift and tilting of the underlying plateau, followed by a long period in the current plane. The tilt indicates that this was movement of the land, rather than a rise in sea level alone.^[5] The initial measured depth of the Great Blue Hole was about 125 m (410 ft) which is the most often cited depth up to this day.

An expedition was conducted in the summer of 1997 to collect core samples from the Blue Hole's floor and document the cave system.^[6] To accomplish these tasks, all of the divers had to be certified in cave diving and mixed gases.^[6]

In December 2018, two submarines descended into the Blue Hole in an attempt to map its interior. Using

Tourism

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The Great Blue Hole is a popular spot among recreational scuba divers who are lured by the opportunity to dive in sometimes crystal-clear water and meet several species of fish, including midnight parrotfish, Caribbean reef shark, and other juvenile fish species. Other species of shark, such as the bull shark and hammerheads, have been reported there but are not regularly sighted. Usually, day trips to the Great Blue Hole are full-day trips from the coastal tourist communities in Belize.

On-shore caves of similar formation, as large collapsed sinkholes, are well known in Belize and in the Yucatán Peninsula, where they are known as cenotes. Unlike the mainland cenotes which often link to underwater cave systems, there is little evidence of horizontal development in the Blue Hole.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

In 2012, Discovery Channel ranked the Great Blue Hole as number one on its list of "The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth".^[9] In 2018, they featured a two-hour special titled Discovery Live: Into the Blue Hole featuring Erika Bergman, Fabien Cousteau and Richard Branson.^[10]

See also

• Blue hole
• List of caves in Belize

References

External links

• Official website of the Great Blue Hole