The not bad Blue Hole off the coast of Belize , an inky blue marine sinkhole surrounded by a coral atoll and quartz clear water supply , is an adventurer ’s paradise . The ambition of explore this geologic oddity was lately bring in byan pleasure trip teammade up of scientists , filmmaker , Richard Branson , and Fabien Cousteau , the grandson of Gallic Internet Explorer Jacques Cousteau who first fetch notoriety to the Blue Hole in the early 1970s .
Along with many scientific insights andstunning photographs , the team also came across something particularly sinister at the bottom of the maritime sinkhole : the torso of long - lost divers .
“ Mostly it was quiet and dark down there , ” Erika Bergman , National Geographic Explorer and pigboat pilot , toldNewsweek . “ We also encountered the repose place for two of the divers who ’ve been suffer in the pickle . We apprize the local authorities , and everyone match to leave them undisturbed . They are at peace . ”
It ’s strange how many people have perished while trying to explore the sinkhole . However , Bergman also toldBusiness Insiderlast calendar month that this twain is believed to be two of the three the great unwashed have it away to have been lose in the sinkhole . At this time , it ’s not absolved who these diver were nor how they die .
The Great Blue Hole is over 300 m ( 984 pes ) wide and 125 meters ( 410 feet ) late , making it the secondly - largest maritime sinkhole in the world after theDragon Holein the South China Sea . Marine sinkholes are the relic of past methamphetamine hydrochloride ages . In most instances , they were an ancient system of limestone caves . As ocean levels rose by hundreds of foot during the last glacial period around14,000 years ago , thelimestone bottom dissolvedand founder , glut the cave with seawater . Just as this recent expedition showed , you’re able to still see stalactite line the inside bulwark of the hole , just like the ones you would see in a cave .
In the sink ’s uttermost stretch , it is a fiendishly inhospitable surround . Below a sure astuteness , approximately 90 meters ( ~300 feet ) , there ’s a cloak of hydrogen sulfide , beyond which the water is all devoid of oxygen . The veil of hydrogen sulfide itself is extremely toxic and corrosive . The recent expedition also observe that the bed of the marine sinkhole was covered in a “ memorial park ” of perished marine lifetime .
“ Presumably , unsuspicious conchs ( or other conch shell dweller ) have been blend in just a little too close to the bound and falling into the kettle of fish at this entrance by the chiliad , ” Erika wrote ina blog C. W. Post . “ We can see each conch with little racecourse back up the Alfred Hawthorne trying to escape , then a sliding board patsy where it slither back down after presumably being suffocate in the anoxic environment . ”
