Dean's Blue Hole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dean's Blue Hole is the world's deepest blue hole, which plunges 663 feet to the ocean floor, in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas.
Contents |
[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.
In April 2007 William Trubridge broke a free-diving world record in the blue hole reaching a depth of 84m (269ft) without the use of fins. In April 2008 he broke his own world record in the Constant Weight Without Fins (CNF) category reaching 86m (282ft) as well as breaking the record in Free Immersion (FIM) at 108m (354ft). (2008 records pending AIDA review)
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.
[edit] Formation
Blue holes are the results of rainwater having soaked through fractures of limestone bedrock onto the watertable of glacial sea levels during the Pleistocene epoch (ice age), some 15,000 years ago. The maximum depth of other known blue holes and sinkholes is 360 feet, which makes the 663 ft depth of Dean's Blue Hole quite exceptional.
Dean's Blue Hole is roughly circular at the surface, with a diameter ranging from 25 to 35 metres (80 to 120 feet). After descending 20 metres (60 feet), the hole widens considerably into a cavern with a diameter of 100 metres (330 feet).
[edit] References
- Stephanie Schwabe and James L. Carew. "Blue Holes: An Inappropriate Moniker for Scientific Discussion of Water-Filled Caves in the Bahamas" (Accessed 3/8/06)
- Journal of Science Volume 2 Number 1, pp. 10-14. 1994 Morphometry and Hydrology of Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island William L. Wilson
[edit] External links
