Discover

'Zacatón' is one of a group of five interconnected sinkholes, or cenotes, located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is the deepest sinkhole in the world with a total depth of 335 meters.^[1] A NASA funded project ^[2]using robotics has measured the underwater portion to be 319 meters deep (an air-filled 16 meter drop from the surface to the water accounts for the total depth). ^[3]
The name Zacatón comes from the free-floating islands of grass which move with the wind. ^[4]

Contents

Diving

References

Diving

El Zacatón's depth has made it an important dive site:

★ Dr. Ann Kristovich set the women's world depth record of 554 feet (~169 meters) during a 1993 dive into the sinkhole. ^[5]

★ On April 6, 1994, explorer diver Jim Bowden and cave diving pioneer Sheck Exley plunged into El Zacatón with the intent of reaching bottom. Bowden dove to a men's world record depth of 925 feet, ^[6] but Exley (who invented/standardized use of the "Octo" or octopus safety regulator) died, probably from high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS) at around 879~906 feet. ^{[7] [8]}

★ The NASA Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) project used the sinkhole as a testbed for robotic hardware being developed to explore the Jovian moon of Europa. ^{[9] [10]} DEPTHX was designed and integrated by NASA Principal Investigator Stone Aerospace. Additional Co-Is on the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) team included Carnegie Mellon University, Southwest Research Institute, Colorado School of Mines, The University of Arizona, and the University of Texas at Austin. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

References

1. The Floating Islands of Zacatón
2. [1]
3. June 2007 news story
4. The Unusual Cenotes
5. Proyecto de Buceo Espeleologico México y América Central Bio: Ann Kristovich
6. Zacaton. A History by Dr. by Ann Kristovich
7. A/C N10 Incident Reports
8. Eulogy for an Explorer
9. Robotic Mission to Zacaton
10. Mexican Sinkhole May Lead NASA to Jupiter
11. The Advance DEPTHX Team Missions
12. PDF: DepthX Goes To Mexico
13. Robotic submarine reaches new depths