Dean's Blue Hole
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Dean's Blue Hole is the world's deepest blue hole, which plunges 663 feet into the ocean floor, lying just offshore of Long Island, Bahamas.
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[edit] Measurements and general information
- Width of upper ledge – 60 feet
- Depth of upper ledge at beginning of hole – 18 ft
- Average width of hole – 250 ft
- Depth to bottom – 663 ft
- Shape – fairly rounded, walls dropping vertically all-around.
- Tunnels, caves etc. – some, seemingly not connecting to ocean.
- Tidal flow – active, in accordance with surface conditions, creating mild up/down drifts.
- Underwater life inside – limited; some interesting encounters with larger species can occur; surface is ocean connected across shallow, protected bay.
- Volume – 1.5 million cubic yards
[edit] History
In September 1992, Jim King, President of Deep Breathing Systems Inc., became the only person to dive all the way to the bottom of the Hole. He learned about Dean's Hole, named for the Bahamian family that owns the property, from geologist William L. Wilson. He was the lead scientific diver on the cave diving expedition of Dean's Blue hole.
[edit] Formations
All known Blue Holes are the results of rainwater having soaked through fractures of limestone bedrock onto the watertable of glacial sealevels, that time having been the last Pleistocene epoch (ice age), some 15,000 years ago. The maximum depth of any such hole, or sinkhole, anywhere but at Dean's Blue Hole, is 360 feet. Dean's Blue Hole's depth suggests formation in association with older – and/or more complicated – occurrences and mechanisms.
[edit] Preservation
The Rob Palmer Blue Holes Foundation, a non-profit organization, is based in the Bahamas; it was founded by Stephanie Schwabe to preserve the Blue Hole cave system.
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