Colossal cave in Mexico that formed 15 million years ago is even more enormous than we thought
By Lydia Smith published about 16 hours ago
The Sistema Huautla in Oaxaca is the 10th deepest cave on Earth, and a explorers with a 2023 expedition to map the system have added over 700 feet to its length.
Explorer Brad Wuest descending into an entrance pit in the Sistema Huautla cave system in Mexico. (Image credit: Chris Higgins)
The deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere — the Sistema Huautla in Mexico — is even longer than originally thought, scientists and cavers have discovered.
Cave
explorers expanded the map of Sistema Huautla, a cave system in the Sierra Mazateca mountains in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, by 728 feet (222 meters). This means the known length of the cave is just over 62.7 miles (100 kilometers) — but further exploration may reveal it is even longer.
Sistema Huautla, the 10th-deepest cave in the world, was first discovered in the 1960s by cavers from Austin, Texas. Since 2014, researchers have carried out annual expeditions as part of the Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla, or Sistema Huautla Speleological Project (PESH) to find out more about the enormous underground labyrinth.
Sistema Huautla is 5,118 feet (1,581 m) deep — equivalent to around four Empire State buildings stacked on top of each other. There are 26 connected entrances to the cave, which is estimated to be up to 15 million years old, according to the statement.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/colossal-cave-in-mexico-that-formed-15-million-years-ago-is-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought
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Cave systems
SISTEMA HUAUTLA
CERRO RABÓN
photo: Anthodite Hall in San Agustin. Photo by Matt Tomlinson.
What and where is this cave?
In Southern Mexico the impressive Huautla Plateau rises to over 2000m. Beneath the surface the limestone mountain contain a monstrous network of caves and passages cut by water, which stretch from the plateau down to the Santo Domingo Canyon 10 kilometres away.
Huautla is something rather special, this cave means a lot to cavers all over the world, but particularly those in the U.S and UK. For the Americans who first came to the area, Huautla became an obsession. It was discovered in the 1960's and soon became the deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere. It is perhaps the most complex of the world's deep caves, with 17 entrances and numerous independent deep routes, going all the way down to a total depth of 1560 meters.
In 1994 American Dr. Bill Stone led an Expediton to Huautla to dive the then terminal sump. In order to make this logistically possible he developed the CIS Lunar rebreather, which is now considered the forerunner of widely available commercial rebreathers. The 1994 Expedition succeeded in passing the terminal sump and finding 3.3 kilometers of new passage beyond. However, the trip was marked with tragedy, during one of the exploration dives Ian Rolland sadly lost his life. When the 1994 expedition took place, it was the largest and most significant cave exploration expedition ever conducted. The team gave up months and months of time to make it possible, with Ian making the ultimate sacrifice. It is a testament to their achievements that it was not till 2013 that anyone has even contemplated returning.
A schematic of Sistema Huautla (on the left) relative to its resurgence (on the far right) and the Pena Colorada, it's hypothesised fossil overflow resurgence. Only the most convenient/quickest route to Sump 9 is shown.
At the other end of the Huautla Plateau in the Santo Domingo Canyon, the water which runs though the Huautla system re-emerges to the outside world. Between the ends of these explored caves a gap of more than four kilometers exists, a connection would make the system 90 km long. In the Santo Domingo Canyon, the fossil overflow resurgence to Sistema Huautla, known as the Cueva de la Pena Colorada, intersects the Huautla water. A large expedition here in 1984 was the forerunner for the aforementioned 1994 expedition.
More:
https://www.beyondthesump.org/what-we-do
Many more photos at the google images link right here:
https://tinyurl.com/2p8h5mwm
