Mayan Underworld Proves Researchers' Dream

Reuters Photo: Divers make their way through a freshwater sinkhole, known as a cenote, in Mexico's Yucatan... "

TULUM, Mexico (Reuters) - The ancient Maya once believed that Mexico's jungle sinkholes containing crystalline waters were the gateway to the underworld and the lair of a surly rain god who had to be appeased with human sacrifices.

Now, the "cenotes," deep sinkholes in limestone that have pools at the bottom, are yielding scientific discoveries including possible life-saving cancer treatments.

Divers are dipping into the cenotes, which stud the Yucatan peninsula, to explore a vast underground river system.

Hefting air tanks, guidelines and waterproof lamps, they have so far mapped 405 miles of channels that form part of a huge subterranean river delta flowing into the Caribbean sea, and they are only just starting.

Scientists investigating the network of caverns and galleries, formed by rainwater passing through porous limestone, have found a wealth of early archeological relics and prehistoric animal bones.

They also have identified dozens of new aquatic species specially adapted to extreme environmental conditions which could have medical applications.

In the Riviera Maya, a strip of Caribbean tourist resorts including the world-famous archeological site of Tulum, there are more than 500 cenotes. Some are open to the jungle, while others have tiny eye-like holes letting in sunlight and jungle roots.

Their waters have filtered through sponge-like limestone which leaves them so transparent that divers say they feel like they are floating in space. The pools range in depth from a few feet (a meter) to an abyss where explorers have still not touched bottom at over 500 feet.

"It is proving to be a totally unique environment," said marine biologist Tom Iliffe of Texas A&M University. "We are finding things down there including forms of life that no one had ever guessed existed, and there is a lot more work to be done."

The Yucatan sits on a limestone plateau where rainwater percolates down to nonporous rock below ground. Over millions of years, underground river systems have formed that flow out to the sea through caves.

The region's 7,000 to 8,000 cenotes were formed when caves collapsed in on themselves. The resulting sinkholes became a vital water source and a focus for Mayan sacrifices to honor Chac, the volatile, crocodile-like rain deity.

In recent years, biologists delving into the underlying river systems, which unlike the sinkholes are jet-black because of the lack of sunlight, have identified 40 entirely new species, mostly blind shrimps and fish which have adapted to life in the system's harsh conditions, where dissolved oxygen and food are scarce.

Among the startling discoveries are microorganisms that live in the transitional zone where the fresh water rivers flow out into the Caribbean, and salt-water sponges which may contain anti-tumor compounds.

"Research is at an early stage, but it is quite possible that the bacteria and sponges may have potential biomedical applications including cures for cancer," Iliffe told Reuters in a telephone interview. "There is a great deal of scientific excitement about it."

Other finds made by divers roaming the deep, dark corridors include the bones of giant jungle sloths, rabbits and even mammoths dating back beyond the last Ice Age.

"When you come up and tell people there are elephants down there they really think you've gone crazy," said Sam Meacham, an underwater explorer and conservationist.

In the past three decades the population of the Riviera Maya has soared 10-fold to close to 1 million people, as tourists from the United States, Europe and Mexico flock to the palm-fringed strip to soak up the sun.

Environmentalists say that the explosive development has been only patchily regulated and warn that waste produced by resort hotels and service towns in the area is already polluting the complex underground oasis.

"It's totally the Wild West, when what is needed is carefully planned, sustainable development," said Meacham, who runs the Quintana Roo Water Systems Research Center, a local non-profit group that raises consciousness about water issues in schools.

Water conservation will be a key issue when ministers, hydrologists and environmentalists from around the world meet at the World Water Forum in Mexico City from March 16-22.

Meacham says human sewage is pumped deep underground, and that at least one water system in the Yucatan has been polluted with fecal matter. The impact of 250 tonnes of trash dumped in landfills each day has yet to be evaluated.

The hundreds of tourists who dive and snorkel each day in any of a dozen cenotes and caves open to the public are also unwittingly destroying the ecosystems before they can be properly understood, Iliffe says.

"Fish are following the divers into the caves and they gobble up all the life, and they (the caves) are left biologically sterile," he said.

"When you consider that they could possibly lead to a cure for cancer, it is essential to conserve them."

Over millions of years, underground river systems have formed that flow out to the sea through caves.

Millions of years huh? they know this how? Or is this a wild guess.? What was the source of this limestone?

They know this how? Or is this another wild guess? Please, let us all see these Myan diaries. How about, these caves were formed when huge pools of limestone slurry settled, and as the limestone settled and compressed, the caverns were formed from the escaping water, a process called a "water lens". As has been learned from observation of the Carlsbad Caverns, stalactites do not take "millons of years" to form. From 1924 to 1988, there was a visitor’s sign above the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns that said Carlsbad was at least 260 million years old. ... In 1988, the sign was changed to read 7 to 10 million years old. Then, for a little while, the sign read that it was 2 million years old. Now the sign is gone. In short, geologists don’t know how long cave development takes. And, while some believe that cave decorations such as S.P.’s beautiful icicle-looking stalactites take years to form, through photo-monitoring, stalactites can grow grow several inches in a matter of days. In recent years, biologists delving into the underlying river systems, which unlike the sinkholes are jet-black because of the lack of sunlight, have identified 40 entirely new species, mostly blind shrimps and fish which have adapted to life in the system's harsh conditions, where dissolved oxygen and food are scarce.

Blind shrimp are not "a new species" they are simply shrimp which have gone blind from lack of sunlight, as are blind fish. They are found all over the world. If anything, it's an example of a loss of information, they have not "evolved" any new abilities, they have lost one.

These are common in thousands of places all over the planet. What are these anti tumor compounds?

If it's so great, why has nobody published it?

Other finds made by divers roaming the deep, dark corridors include the bones of giant jungle sloths, rabbits and even mammoths dating back beyond the last Ice Age.

The ice age of the jungles of Mexico? How did these mammoths servive in the ice? How did these mammoths get into these underground tunnels? Unless of course, these mammoths were washed into this big ponds of limestone, and as this slurry settled and harded, and water escaping it wia the water lens principle and forming these caverns left the bones exposed. They may be elephant bones from amuch younger age.

"When you come up and tell people there are elephants down there they really think you've gone crazy," said Sam Meacham, an underwater explorer and conservationist.

Indeed. Pehaps if you said they were elephant BONES, they wouldn't think you were nuts.

Of course. Everyone knows fish are too stupid to swim into places in search of food on thier own. They need directions. A better conclusion is they are "biologically sterile" because of the lack of oxegen in the stagnant water.

"When you consider that they could possibly lead to a cure for cancer, it is essential to conserve them."

Of course. Only "important people" such as yourself should be allowed in there. Not that there is anything to find in this "biologically sterlle" place.
Perhaps it's more like you don't want the place to get too crowded and the water stirred up, so you can have can have your own little fun place to dive., After all, only the "elite" should be allowed to stink up the earth.

There are drawings on the walls of some of the underwater channels that can only be accessed by using scuba gear. The question asked is how did the Mayans do it?

Interesting. How deep are the channels? A skin diver can go to a depth comparable to that where most scuba dives occur, although for a shorter period of time than a scuba diver of course. If it could be reached by skin diving, that would still leave the problem of how they were able to get the drawings on the walls. Two possibilities (and I'm brainstorming here without the benefit of a map of the site, but just suggesting possible answers to your question) would be a varying water level, enabling a skin diver who has held their breath long enough to reach the channel to breathe in it when the water is lower; or if the drawings are done in some type of pigment that could be drawn underwater, or could possibly be done on the surface and then carried underwater for transfer by rubbing. What medium was used to make the drawings might be a clue to how it was done. Again I'm just brainstorming here--don't know much about this site, though I seem to recall skimming a National Geographic article on it a few months ago (if I'm thinking of the same site).

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