Relics of the remote past , as well as recent tragedies , dwell within the cerulean depth of the Great Blue Hole in Belize .
The Great Blue Hole is a large nautical sinkhole in the Caribbean Sea , some 70 kilometers ( 43 miles ) from the coast of Belize . With a diam of 318 meter ( 1,043 foot ) and a depth of 124 meters ( 407 ft ) , it ’s one of thelargest marine sink .
Blue hole like this are souvenir from the Quaternary Glaciation when sea levels were over 100 metre ( 330 understructure ) low than the present day – it start life as a limestone cave but became flood as the brine ascend . Eventually , the ceilings collapsed under the weight of the water to give away a cavity within the seabed .
A photograph of Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, featuring the Great Blue Hole, seen from the International Space Station 5 December 2024.Image credit: ISS/NASA Earth Observatory
The Great Blue Hole is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System , aUNESCO World Heritage Sitedescribed by Charles Darwin “ as the most remarkable reef in the West Indies . ” dwelling to a wealth of unparalleled coral species – not to mention other animals like the West Indian Trichechus manatus , immature turtle , tortoiseshell turtle turtle , loggerhead polo-neck , and the American crocodile – the field has become charismatic for holidaymaker , scuba loon , and snorkel adventurer .
fall into the swallow hole , it ’s potential to see the remains of stalactites , geologic features from when this was a cave exhibit to the open air . However , it ’s aver that there ’s not much to see inside the Great Blue Hole in terms of wildlife – at least that ’s alive .
The bottom of the blue golf hole is free of oxygen . resolve atomic number 8 spirit level drop to zero below the level of atomic number 1 sulphide that lies around 90 meters ( 295 feet ) late in the yap , efficaciously creating an unseeable roadblock in the hole . As a result of these uninhabitable conditions , the seafloor is littered witha " burial site " of dead sea creaturesthat probably went too rich and asphyxiate .
One of the most publicized military expedition of the Great Blue Hole was expect out in 2018 by British billionaire Richard Branson , oceanographic explorer Fabien Cousteau , and National Geographic Explorer Erika Bergman .
write on hisblogabout the trip , Branson point out how the geology of the down gob served as a vivid reminder of the potential desolation that climate change andrising sea levelscould bring to the globe .
“ At 300 base [ 91 meters ] down you could see the change in the rock where it used to be land and plough into sea . It was one of the starkest reminder of the danger of climate alteration I ’ve ever seen , ” Branson wrote .
He also take note that the team saw some grounds of another scourge of the modern world : plastic pollution .
“ Sadly , we saw pliant bottles at the bottom of the hole , which is a genuine flagellum of the sea , ” he added .
It ’s not known how many mass have recede their life in Great Blue Hole , but Bergman has antecedently suggested that three people are known to have live on lacking while exploring it . Tragically , she think they saw two of these bodies during the 2018 junket with Branson . The skeleton in the cupboard stay there to this day .
“ We did encounter two of the probable three people who have been lost in the Blue Hole , so we found kind of the rest position of a couple sept , and we just sort of very respectfully countenance the Belize authorities make love where we found them , and everyone adjudicate that we would just not seek any recovery . It ’s very disconsolate and passive down there , just kind of lease them delay , ” Bergman toldBusiness Insiderin a 2020 consultation .
