Page 70 - Mexico Diving From the Caribbean to Pacific Isles

he term derives from a word used by divers who have documented extensive
T the low-land Yucatec Maya, “Ts’onot”
to refer to any location with accessible
groundwater. Cenotes are formed from a
geomorphologic process where time and
space, the porosity and rock feature, the
weather, temperature and mixture of fresh
and salt water all play a part in forming
these structures. Cenotes water is often
very clear, derived from rain water filtering structural collapse of the rock ceiling above event associated with the extinction of the
slowly through the ground, and therefore
contains very little suspended particulate
matter. They are usually filled with tur-
quoise and green crystalline water. The
groundwater flow rate within a cenotes
may be very slow. In many cases, cenotes
are areas where sections of cave roof have
collapsed revealing an underlying cave sys-
tem. Cenotes around the world attract cave
by the water in the void. Cenotes may fully
flooded cave systems through them, some collapse creating an open water pool, or
of which have been explored for lengths of partially collapsed with some portion of
62 miles. a rock overhanging above the water. The
stereotypical cenotes often resemble small
T he formation process consists of three circular ponds, measuring some tens of
phases, dissolution, collapse and con- meters in diameter with sheer drops at the
struction. Cenotes are formed by dissolu- edges.
tion of rock and the resulting subsurface
void, which may or may not be linked to T he Cenotes and the caves of the Yu-
an active cave system, and the subsequent catan have origins from a cataclysmic
the void. Rock that falls into the water dinosaurs as a result of the Earth being hit
below is slowly removed by further dis- by a large asteroid. The Chicxulub Crater is
solution, creating space for more collapse a prehistoric impact crater buried under-
blocks. The rate of collapse increases neath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
during periods when the water table is and created the geological structures that
below the ceiling of the void, since the rock resulted in the vast network of caves and
ceiling is no longer buoyantly supported cenotes in the Yucatan.