{"id":259638,"date":"2024-09-13T16:07:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T16:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/13\/cave-diver-explores-a-mexican-sinkhole-in-atmospheric-photograph\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:11:20","slug":"cave-diver-explores-a-mexican-sinkhole-in-atmospheric-photograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/13\/cave-diver-explores-a-mexican-sinkhole-in-atmospheric-photograph\/","title":{"rendered":"Cave diver explores a Mexican sinkhole in atmospheric photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cave diver exploring Chan Aktun Ha<\/p>\n

Martin Broen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Yucat\u00e1n peninsula in south-east Mexico is riddled with holes. When a giant asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago near what is now the town of Chicxulub, the impact created a massive depression and caused fracturing of the porous limestone bedrock. Over millions of years, rainwater has dissolved the stone, creating underground rivers, caves<\/a> and cenotes (sinkholes).<\/p>\n

Photographer Martin Broen has explored 280 of the Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s cenotes, atmospheric shots of which are collected in his book Light in the Underworld<\/i><\/a>, out now in the US and on 17 September in the UK. This image, taken in 2020, shows the cave area of a cenote called Chan Aktun Ha (a Mayan name meaning \u201clittle water cave\u201d) in the state of Quintana Roo. Here, a cave diver is exploring among pristine stalactites and stalagmites.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring rain showers in the Mexican jungle, water washes tannin from the vegetation into the cenotes, creating a tannic acid solution,\u201d says Broen. \u201cThese natural filters provide a surreal green, yellow or red atmosphere to the caverns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shallow caves of the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula have been flooded for the past 8000 years. \u201cThe more I dive, the more I discover the beauty and secrets of these caves, uncovering unique fossils of extinct megafauna, indications of the first Palaeo-Americans, and Mayan artefacts,\u201d says Broen.<\/p>\n

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But, he adds, cenotes aren\u2019t just a window into the past but \u201cthe veins that carry all fresh water in the region\u201d. With pollution, deforestation and development all a threat, Broen hopes his photos can help people care about what lies beneath their feet.<\/p>\n

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Light in the Underworld: Diving the Mexican Cenotes<\/a> by Martin Broen is published by Rizzoli priced at \u00a346.00<\/em><\/p>\n

New Scientist video<\/b>
Divers discover manatees in Yucat\u00e1n cave habitat youtube.com\/newscientist<\/a><\/p>\n

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[ad_1] Cave diver exploring Chan Aktun Ha Martin Broen The Yucat\u00e1n peninsula in south-east Mexico is riddled with holes. When a giant asteroid struck Earth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}