This is something interesting I ran across on the internet. A blue hole is a deep, circular depression in the ocean formed during the Ice Age, the result of rainwater seeping through cracks in limestone bedrock and eventually eroding it away. These holes were formerly above-water caves, but were submerged by rising ocean levels over the period of several thousand years.
They’re are named blue holes for their appearance…a blue hole, because it is deeper than the surrounding ocean, is a darker blue than the ocean around it. It appears as a sapphire spot in a cerulean sea.
Dean’s Blue Hole is the deepest known blue hole. Located in the Bahamas, it is 0ver 660 feet deep, almost twice as deep as other known blue holes. It is about 100 feet in diameter at the water’s surface, but as depth increases, so does width. Toward the bottom, it widens into a cavern more than 300 feet in diameter. Here’s a picture:
Cool, huh?
October 12, 2007 at 2:25 pm |
As your header assumes, I’ve heard of black holes, but never blue ones. These sound a lot friendlier than the scary prospect of falling into the abyss of a black hole! Interesting to know they exist. I’ll be on the lookout for them.
October 12, 2007 at 4:20 pm |
Wow, Ariel, that is really interesting. I’d never heard of blue holes, just black ones. And rabbit holes, too, of course, where you enter Wonderland. But I don’t fancy falling into any of those! Cool fact!
October 19, 2007 at 6:43 pm |
How do you just “run into” this on the Internet? Do you go to wikipedia and click on any interesting-looking article, or is it whatever interests you at the moment? There’s a spot kind of like that at Rainbow Falls south of Cullowhee…a couple of these kids saw this pool of water, and I guess they thought they would have fun taking a quick dip…but it turned out to be about 20-something feet deep! Baffles the mind, huh?