Cave of the 'Mayan Underworld' Filled with Methane-Eating Creatures
By Jasmin Malik Chua | December 10, 2017 10:24am
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A diver explores a network of submerged caves and underwater rivers in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Credit: Copyright HP Hartmann
In the subterranean rivers and flooded caverns of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula once thought to hold the path to Xibalba, the mythical Mayan underworld scientists have uncovered a liminal world where methane is the unlikely driving force for life.
After plumbing the depths of Ox Bel Ha, a submerged estuary complex that rivals Texas' Galveston Bay in size, researchers from the U.S., Mexico, the Netherlands and Switzerland report in a new study that their expedition was the most detailed ecological study to date of a coastal cave system that is constantly underwater. The feat was so pioneering, in fact, that it necessitated the use of techniques previously employed by deep-sea submergence vehicles, they said.
The Ox Bel Ha cave network is unique because it harbors two distinct layers of water: freshwater, fed by rain falling through sinkholes which doubled as access points for the scientists and salt water, stemming from the ocean. [Amazing Caves: Pictures of the Earth's Innards]
More:
https://www.livescience.com/61141-methane-underworld-yucatan.html?utm_source=notification
Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122854831