Full of Mysteries, the Deepest Blue Hole in the World is Basically Unknown

MEXICO – Scientists have just discovered the world’s deepest blue hole, and they haven’t even reached the bottom.

The blue hole is called Taam Ja’ (TJBH), located in Chetumal Bay, off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The latest measurements show the TJBH stretches at least 420 meters below sea level.

This is 146 meters deeper than initial documentation when it was first discovered in 2021.

TJBH is even 119 meters deeper than the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole in the South China Sea, which previously held this record.

“On December 6, 2023, a scuba diving expedition was carried out to identify environmental conditions at TJBH,” the researchers wrote in a study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

During the expedition, the researchers took measurements using a conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiler. Namely a tool with a set of probes that reads and transmits the properties of water to the surface in real time.

The data revealed that TJBH is “the world’s deepest blue hole, the bottom of which has yet to be reached,” the researchers wrote in the study.

Profilers also discovered different layers of water inside the blue hole, including a layer below 400 meters where temperature and salinity conditions resemble the Caribbean Sea and nearby coastal reef lagoons. This suggests that TJBH may be connected to the sea via a hidden network of tunnels and caves.

Water Filled Vertical Cavity

Blue holes themselves are vertical cavities filled with water, or sinkholes, found in coastal areas where the bedrock is made of soluble materials, such as limestone, marble, or gypsum.

They form when surface water seeps through rock, dissolving minerals and widening cracks, eventually causing the rock to collapse.

Famous examples include Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, Dahab Blue Hole in Egypt, and the Great Blue Hole in Belize.

The scientists plan to “describe the maximum depth of the TJBH and the possibility that it forms part of a complex and potentially interconnected system of underwater caves and tunnels,” the researchers wrote.

“In the depths of TJBH there can also be biodiversity that can be explored,” they added.

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