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 By: Sam Meacham
Most residents of the Riviera Maya are familiar with cenotes; the enigmatic crystal clear pools of water that dot the Yucatan Peninsula’s landscape.
As their beauty is admired many questions are often asked about them:
How were they formed? .........How are they explored?
What can be found in the hidden depths of a Cenote? ...........What treasures can be found?
Is pollution affecting them? ......... The answers are very interesting ............
 How were they formed?
The Yucatan Peninsula forms one of the largest limestone platforms in the world. Covering over 250,000 km2 and with a thickness of over 21/2 km in some places, the Yucatan peninsula formed over millions of years due to the deposition of calcium carbonate from ancient reef systems.
Over successive ice ages, ocean levels rose and fell on average 120 meters, alternately submerging and revealing this enormous platform. During the times when it was exposed, rainwater mixing with carbon dioxide produced a weak acidic solution called carbonic acid, which dissolved the limestone and formed solution caves. As the last ice age came to a close 18,000 years ago, the polar caps melted, ocean levels rose and the caves were flooded.
The entrances into these flooded cave systems, or underground rivers, are called cenotes, a derivation of the Mayan word ‘dzonot’ which means ‘sacred well’. It is estimated that over 7,000 cenotes exist over the broad, flat expanse of the Peninsula. Cenotes are the unique geographic feature to our area.
 Exploration:
What perhaps people don’t realize is the effort that has gone into exploring cenotes over the last 20 years, and the amazing amount of information that is being compiled as a result of this exploration. With this information, explorers and scientists are helping to unlock the many mysteries of the Peninsula, and guide this region into a sustainable future.
The exploration of the cenotes and underground rivers of the Riviera Maya began in the early 1980’s, when intrepid divers began to probe their depths. Since that time, in the area between Puerto Morelos and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve over 100 cave systems and over 550 km of completely flooded cave passageways have been explored and mapped. Explorers have identified two layers to these cave systems; one extends from the surface to a depth of approximately 20 meters. The other ‘basement’ level is found over 100 meters below the surface.
The deepest cave system in our area is the Dos Ojos System with a maximum depth of 119 meters. Seven of the ten longest underground rivers in the world are located in our backyard. The longest of them all, Sistema Ox Bel Ha, is also considered the longest cave (wet or dry) in the Mexican Republic, and the ninth longest cave (wet or dry) on the planet. This is made all the more remarkable when one considers that Ox Bel Ha’s 134 km of passageway are completely flooded and still being explored.
Following in the footsteps of explorers is the scientific community. In their opinion, to understand the cenotes is to understand the complex nature of the Peninsula.
Scientists from almost every discipline are working hard to study the many layers of the Peninsula. For example, ornithologist Dr. James Rotenberg of University of North Carolina is studying the use of cenotes by the over 2 billion (not an exaggeration) migratory birds that cross the Peninsula each year. Botanist Jason Hblakos of the University of California Riverside is studying evidence that the ancient Maya cultivated a variety of tree originally from Oaxaca in the moisture rich environment of the cenotes.
Dr. Fernando Alvarez of UNAM and Dr. Tom Illiffe of Texas A&M Galveston are studying the 38 life forms found within these caves systems, linking them to species from as far away as the Bahamas. Archeologists Dr. Scott Fedick and Jeffrey Glover, also of UC Riverside, are looking at how cenotes determined early Maya settlement patterns across the area.
Cave archeologist Dr. Dominique Rissolo is studying the use of dry caves and cenotes in this area as sacred spaces by the ancient Maya. And Arq. Carmen Rojas and Biologo Arturo Gonzalez are leading the efforts of Mexico’s Na
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