CRISTIALLO & TAJ MA HA CENOTES

July 29, 2011

Cristallino Cenote

Cenotes are surface connections to subterranean water bodies.[3] While the best-known cenotes are large open water pools measuring tens of meters (yards) in diameter, such as those at Chichén Itzá, the greatest number of cenotes are smaller sheltered sites and do not necessarily have any surface exposed water.

Taj Ma Ha cenote

Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water infiltrating slowly through the ground, and therefore contains very little suspended particulate matter. The groundwater flow rate within a cenote may be very slow at velocities ranging from 1 to 1,000 meters (3 to 3,000 ft) per year.[citation needed] In many cases, cenotes are areas where sections of cave roof have collapsed revealing an underlying cave system, and the water flow rates here may be much faster: up to 10 kilometers (6 mi) per day.

Cristiallno Cenote

Cenotes around the world attract cave divers who have documented extensive flooded cave systems through them, some of which have been explored for lengths of 100 km (60 mi) or more

Coral Fossil Cristiallno Cenote

Cenotes-cántaro (Jug, or Pit cenotes) are those with a surface connection narrower than the diameter of the water body; Cenotes-cilíndricos (Cylinder cenotes) are those with strictly vertical walls; Cenotes-aguadas (Basin cenotes) are those with shallow water basins; and grutas (Cave cenotes) are those having a horizontal entrance with dry sections.

Taj Ma Ha Cenote

The classification scheme was based on morphometric observations above the water table, and therefore incompletely reflects the processes by which the cenotes formed and the inherent hydrogeochemical relationship with the underlying flooded cave networks, which were only discovered in the 1980s and onwards with the initiation of cave diving exploration.