Sistema Dos Ojos
Sistema Dos Ojos | |
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cenotes[1] | |
Difficulty | Advanced cave diving |
Dos Ojos (officially Spanish: Sistema Dos Ojos, lit. 'Two Eyes System') is part of a flooded cave system located north of Tulum, on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The exploration of Dos Ojos began in 1987 and still continues. The surveyed extent of the cave system is 82 kilometers (51 mi)[1] and there are 28 known sinkhole entrances, which are locally called cenotes. In January 2018, a connection was found between Sistema Dos Ojos and Sistema Sac Actun.[2] The smaller Dos Ojos became a part of Sac Actun, making the Sistema Sac Actun the longest known underwater cave system in the world.[2]
Dos Ojos lies north of the rest of the Sac Actun cave system. As a separate system, Dos Ojos remained in the top ten, if not the top three, longest underwater cave systems in the world since the late 1980s.[3] Dos Ojos contains the deepest known cave passage in Quintana Roo with 119.1 meters (391 ft) of depth located at "The Pit" discovered in 1996 by cave explorers who came all the way from the main entrance some 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) away. The deep passages include the "Wakulla Room", the "Beyond Main Base (BMB) passage", "Jill's room" and "The Next Generation passage". In August 2012 Dos Ojos was connected through a dry passage to Sistema Sac Actun. With March 2014 the total length of the combined system measures 319.05 kilometers (198.25 mi).
Dos Ojos is an
The name Dos Ojos refers to two neighbouring cenotes that connect into a very large cavern zone shared between the two. These two cenotes appear like two large eyes into the underground. The original cave diving exploration of the whole cave system began through these cenotes. The Dos Ojos underwater cave system was featured in a 2002 IMAX film, Journey Into Amazing Caves, and the 2006 BBC/Discovery Channel series Planet Earth. Parts of the Hollywood 2005 movie The Cave were filmed in the Dos Ojos cave system.
Water temperature is 25 °C or 77 °F throughout the year, and the maximum depth near the Dos Ojos cenotes is approximately 10 meters (33 ft). The water is exceptionally clear as a result of rainwater filtered through limestone, and there being very little soil development in this region since the limestone is very pure.
Fauna
There are several varieties of fish living in the cavern, the majority of which are well under 10 centimeters (3.9 in) long, and at least two types of freshwater shrimp.
Tourism
The Dos Ojos Cenotes are a popular snorkeling and
Freediving Record
On November 3, 2010, Dos Ojos hosted
See also
- List of caves
- List of caves in Mexico
- List of sinkholes of Mexico – Links to Wikipedia articles on sinkholes, blue holes, dolines, cenotes, and pit caves
- Speleology – Science of cave and karst systems
References
- ^ a b c d "List of Long Underwater Caves in Quintana Roo Mexico". Quintana Roo Speleological Survey. National Speleological Society. March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ a b "World's Largest Underwater Cave Discovered". National Geographic. January 17, 2018. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ Bob Gulden, Jim Coke (May 13, 2013). "World longest underwater caves". NSS Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
- ISBN 1-57958-399-7. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
- ^ Guinness World Records
- Steve Gerrard (2000). The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya. ISBN 0-9677412-0-3. online Version. Retrieved January 13, 2011.