Friday, March 11, 2011

The Blue Hole

The Blue Hole is located just off of the coast of Belize, near the
Ambergris Caye. The Blue Hole began as a limestone cave in our last Ice Age. After ages of erosion the cave collapsed leaving the scenic beauty we see today! The Blue Hole is almost perfectly circular reaching 300m (1000ft) across and 120m (400ft) deep. The blue cave is perfect spot for all divers because of its beauty and geological history.
                          

Blue holes formed during past ice ages, when sea level was as much as 100–120 metres (330–390 ft) lower than at present. At those times, these formations were subjected to the same erosion from rain and chemical weathering common in all limestone-rich terrains; this ended once they were submerged at the end of the ice age.
Most blue holes contain both freshwater and saltwater. The halocline is the point in these blue holes where the freshwater meets the saltwater and where a corrosive reaction takes place that eats away at the rock. Over time this can create side passages, or horizontal "arms", that extend from the vertical cave. These side passages can be quite long; e.g., over 600 metres (2,000 ft) in the case of the Sawmill Sink in the Bahamas.


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