00:00This is the Tamja Blue Hole, located just off the southeastern coast of Mexico.
00:08The mouth of the underwater cave stretches nearly 500 feet across, and when it was first
00:12discovered in 2021, experts believed it was around 900 feet deep.
00:17Now new measurements have revealed that not only is it deeper than that, it's likely
00:21the deepest blue hole ever discovered.
00:23So why are the initial measurements no longer reliable?
00:26Well, the Tamja Blue Hole contains what is called a pycnocline, which is a clearly defined
00:30boundary of waters with differing densities.
00:33And since the depth of extremely deep holes like this are usually measured using sonar
00:37or sound waves, those become diffused and scatter when entering materials of differing
00:41densities, which is why researchers have since lowered an observation cable down into the
00:45depths.
00:46However, after the entirety of the more than 1,500 foot long cable was extended, it still
00:50never touched the bottom, meaning it's even deeper than that.
00:54What's more, experts say that their data revealed the conditions deep within the blue
00:57hole converged with those of the Caribbean Sea, meaning this hole might well, in fact,
01:02actually be a tunnel.
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