Zacatón
Zacatón is the name of a sinkhole from a group of five connected sinkholes or cenotes that are located in the northeasternmost state of Mexico , Tamaulipas . Zacatón is the deepest known water-filled sinkhole in the world with a depth of more than 300 m. Its surface diameter is around 116 m.
The sinkhole was named Zacatón because of the grassy islands floating on the surface of the water, which are only moved by the wind. The water of the sinkhole is 30 ° C warm, very rich in minerals and smells slightly of sulfur.
Diving
The depth of Zacatón makes the sinkhole an important diving destination:
- Ann Kristovich set the women's deep diving record here in 1993 with a depth of 168 m.
- On April 6, 1994, Jim Bowden and cave diving pioneer Sheck Exley (1949–1994) dived into the sinkhole with the aim of reaching the bottom. Bowden dived to the record depth of 281 m, but Exley died trying to reach a depth of 267 m to 276 m. The likely cause of death was high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS).
- The NASA used the sinkhole as a test site for testing exploration robots to explore the Jupiter satellite Europa are to be used. Researchers from the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) team at the University of Texas at Austin , along with robotics engineers from Carnegie Mellon University and StoneAerospace, developed the technologies needed to explore Zacatón.
See also
swell
- ↑ Article "Robotic submarine reaches new depths" on newscientisttech.com ( Memento from July 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Floating Islands of Zacatón ( Memento of the original from November 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Unusual Cenotes ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Proyecto de Buceo Espeleologico México y América Central Bio: Ann Kristovich
- ↑ Zacaton. A History by Ann Kristovich ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A / C N10 Incident Reports
- ↑ Eulogy for an Explorer ( Memento of the original dated February 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Robotic Mission to Zacaton ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Mexican Sinkhole May Lead NASA to Jupiter
- ↑ The Advance DEPTHX Team Missions ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ PDF: DepthX Goes To Mexico ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 22 ° 59 ′ 36 ″ N , 98 ° 9 ′ 57 ″ W.