World’s Deepest Oceanic Blue Hole Could Actually Be an Underwater Tunnel

Amaze Lab

The Taam Ja’ blue hole is located just off the southeastern coast of Mexico. It was once believed to be the second deepest oceanic hole of its kind in the world, but now new measurements reveal it might be neve-rending.

Transcript

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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