Mexico City is sinking fast, and the ground beneath 22 million people is collapsing. The metropolis extracts so much groundwater from the soft clay lakebed underneath that parts of the city are dropping about 20 inches a year.
In 2003, a fisherman in Chetumal Bay, Mexico, noticed a grouper disappear beneath the surface and later found a hidden opening in the water. More than a decade later, his son guided researchers back to the site. Initial measurements found no bottom at 425 feet, and instruments recorded warm, salty water and rising currents where they were not expected. The hole, known as Taam Ja’, has since been m…
Mexico City is sinking fast—the ground beneath 22 million people is collapsing at a shocking rate, and the crisis is accelerating. Built on an ancient lakebed, the city’s soft clay compresses as underground aquifers are drained to supply water to millions.
In late 2023, researchers confirmed that Taam Ja’, a blue hole in Chetumal Bay off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, is the deepest known blue hole on Earth. Measurements taken in December 2023 recorded depths exceeding 1,372 feet without reaching the bottom.Blue holes are underwater sinkholes that formed when ancient caves collapsed and were later flooded as sea levels rose. Unlike the famous Great Blu…