When an underground region of empty space, like a cave or system of cave tunnels, is connected to the surface via the eroding or collapsing of rock strata, that formation is known as a cenote. Cenotes are often filled by groundwater or rain, which can make them very valuable as sources of fresh water in areas where it may otherwise be scarce. In Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, cenotes are particularly plentiful, and their presence has been an important link in the environmental chain, as well as a pillar of support for human civilizations developing in the region.
Cenote Classification
Since 1936, scientists have classified cenotes into several distinct categories. Pit cenotes (sometimes called jug cenotes) are openings that are smaller than the underground body of water they provide an entrance to. These are differentiated from cylinder cenotes, which have strictly vertical walls, and basin cenotes, which have very shallow water basins at their lowest point. The last class of cenote is the cave cenote, which unlike the other kinds, has a horizontal entrance that is largely free of water.
The Making of Cenotes
Cenotes are formed by natural processes of weathering and the dissolution of rock in water. With the help of abrasive forces like rain, wind, and gravity, the surface region above an underground void gradually wears away, until an opening appears. Sometimes, the stability of the entire roof structure is affected by the cenote beginning to form, and it collapses, leaving a wide circular entrance to the caves beneath.
Saltwater tends to form cenotes more quickly than fresh water, as it is more abrasive. Also, a developing cenote which is not yet completely filled will generally degrated the surface rock faster, as the sloshing action of the pooled water is a powerful abrasive force.
Some cenotes don't completely collapse inward; these partially collapsed cenotes will often have a rocky ledge or overhang, forcing anyone who wishes to enter the caves to crawl under them in order to access the underground water source below.
Underground Passages
The Yucatan is also the location of a huge, partially submerged crater, called the Chicxulub crater, which was created by an asteroid strike about 65 million years ago, and is suspected to be one of the major events that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs. A ring of cenotes is arranged on the circular rim of the section of crater which lies on land.
The Chicxulub cenotes can reaches extreme depths of over 300 feet below the water table, where large amounts of fresh water from rain and runoff has accumulated. The water is remarkably clear and pure, and the conjoined nature of these cenotes has created a kind of underground river, which has been used since the days of the great Maya cities as a source of fresh water and transportation.
Though there are few rivers or lakes that run anywhere through the Yucatan peninsula, the currents that run through the water in these subterranean caves are often quite fast, and usually faster below cenotes with collapsed roofs than those who still retain a portion of their strata. Because they provide a natural source of fresh water in an environment where it's otherwise in short supply, the Yucatan cenotes were instrumental in helping the first urban centers develop. They were just as crucial to the first irrigation works built by the Maya, who ruled the region beginning over 2000 years ago.
As is plain to see, then, the cenotes of the Yucatan have played a pivotal role in both human history and the flowering of the tropical jungles in that region, from the time of the earliest human settlements right up until the present day, when they are still used for drinking water, and more commonly, as recreational locations for adventure tourists and cave divers.
Cenote Classification
Since 1936, scientists have classified cenotes into several distinct categories. Pit cenotes (sometimes called jug cenotes) are openings that are smaller than the underground body of water they provide an entrance to. These are differentiated from cylinder cenotes, which have strictly vertical walls, and basin cenotes, which have very shallow water basins at their lowest point. The last class of cenote is the cave cenote, which unlike the other kinds, has a horizontal entrance that is largely free of water.
The Making of Cenotes
Cenotes are formed by natural processes of weathering and the dissolution of rock in water. With the help of abrasive forces like rain, wind, and gravity, the surface region above an underground void gradually wears away, until an opening appears. Sometimes, the stability of the entire roof structure is affected by the cenote beginning to form, and it collapses, leaving a wide circular entrance to the caves beneath.
Saltwater tends to form cenotes more quickly than fresh water, as it is more abrasive. Also, a developing cenote which is not yet completely filled will generally degrated the surface rock faster, as the sloshing action of the pooled water is a powerful abrasive force.
Some cenotes don't completely collapse inward; these partially collapsed cenotes will often have a rocky ledge or overhang, forcing anyone who wishes to enter the caves to crawl under them in order to access the underground water source below.
Underground Passages
The Yucatan is also the location of a huge, partially submerged crater, called the Chicxulub crater, which was created by an asteroid strike about 65 million years ago, and is suspected to be one of the major events that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs. A ring of cenotes is arranged on the circular rim of the section of crater which lies on land.
The Chicxulub cenotes can reaches extreme depths of over 300 feet below the water table, where large amounts of fresh water from rain and runoff has accumulated. The water is remarkably clear and pure, and the conjoined nature of these cenotes has created a kind of underground river, which has been used since the days of the great Maya cities as a source of fresh water and transportation.
Though there are few rivers or lakes that run anywhere through the Yucatan peninsula, the currents that run through the water in these subterranean caves are often quite fast, and usually faster below cenotes with collapsed roofs than those who still retain a portion of their strata. Because they provide a natural source of fresh water in an environment where it's otherwise in short supply, the Yucatan cenotes were instrumental in helping the first urban centers develop. They were just as crucial to the first irrigation works built by the Maya, who ruled the region beginning over 2000 years ago.
As is plain to see, then, the cenotes of the Yucatan have played a pivotal role in both human history and the flowering of the tropical jungles in that region, from the time of the earliest human settlements right up until the present day, when they are still used for drinking water, and more commonly, as recreational locations for adventure tourists and cave divers.
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