Zacatón
Zacatón is one of a group of five interconnected sinkholes, or cenotes, located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is the deepest water-filled sinkhole in the world with a total depth of 335 meters.[1] DEPTHX, a NASA funded project [2]using an autonomous robot has measured the underwater portion to be 319 meters deep (an air-filled 16 meter drop from the surface to the water accounts for the total depth). [3]
The name Zacatón comes from the free-floating islands of zacate grass which move about on the surface with the wind. [4]
Scrapings from the rock walls beneath the surface yielded at least 6 new phyla of bacteria.
Diving
El Zacatón's depth has made it an important dive site:
- Dr. Ann Kristovich set the women's world depth record of 554 feet (~169 meters) during a 1993 dive into the sinkhole. [5]
- On April 6, 1994, explorer diver Jim Bowden and cave diving pioneer Sheck Exley plunged into El Zacatón with the intent of reaching bottom. Bowden dove to a men's world record depth of 925 feet, [6] but Exley (who invented/standardized use of the "Octo" or octopus safety regulator) died, probably from high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS) at around 879~906 feet. [7] [8]
- The NASA Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) project used the sinkhole as a testbed for robotic hardware being developed to explore the Jovian moon of Europa. [9] [10] DEPTHX was designed and integrated by NASA Principal Investigator Stone Aerospace. Additional Co-Is on the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) team included Carnegie Mellon University, Southwest Research Institute, Colorado School of Mines, The University of Arizona, and the University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences. [11] [12] [13]
References
- ^ The Floating Islands of Zacatón
- ^ [1]
- ^ Demystifying El Zacatón (Astrobiology, June 2007)
- ^ The Unusual Cenotes
- ^ Proyecto de Buceo Espeleologico México y América Central Bio: Ann Kristovich
- ^ Zacaton. A History by Dr. by Ann Kristovich
- ^ A/C N10 Incident Reports
- ^ Eulogy for an Explorer
- ^ Robotic Mission to Zacaton
- ^ Mexican Sinkhole May Lead NASA to Jupiter
- ^ The Advance DEPTHX Team Missions
- ^ PDF: DepthX Goes To Mexico
- ^ Robotic submarine reaches new depths