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Video: For Whom the Hell's Bells Ring in Yucatan: The Secret of the Purpose of a Unique Ancient Landmark
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Celebrities are one of the key locations for the Yukatan office in Mexico. In fact, the entire region is simply populated by ceotes. There are not dozens of them, there are thousands of them! There are as many, if not more, to be discovered. Ancient Maya believed that the ceno is a path to the subterranean world, where the souls of the dead and the gods of death are inhabited. In the depths of the sacred cenote El Zapote, unique unusual stalactites have formed. They do not look at all as they should in theory. Divers call them "Hells Bells" after a song by Australian hard rock band AC / DC.
What is El Zapote
Instead of the usual elongated, pointed downward shape for these formations hanging from the roof of the caves, the stalactites in El Zapot are conical and hollow. Most of all, they look like bells or lampshades. El Sapote is a sinkhole filled with water, several tens of meters deep.
It is there, in the depths of this sacred Mayan cenote, that a very unusual form of stalactites are found. Divers call them Hell's Bells. These unique formations are found about halfway down the path to the depths of the hourglass-shaped cave.
They are located within a narrow six-meter passage. At this point, stalactites cover almost the entire surface of the cave. Sinister Hells Bells are round or elliptical in shape. They usually do not form a complete ring. Most have an open segment from a quarter to one third of the annulus wall. This makes them look like horseshoes. The open part of the cone always faces the cave walls.
Unusual stalactites
These specific cave formations can be very large. They are more than two meters long and almost a meter wide. The walls are three centimeters thick.
Carbonate deposits cause carbon dioxide to evaporate. As a result, calcite is saturated, it precipitates and stalactites are formed. This process is more difficult under water, since there is no access to air.
The cave systems of Yucatan are flooded with salty sea water. It seeps from below and is also saturated with fresh groundwater that comes from above. The interesting thing is that the two layers don't mix. They are separated by an intermediate layer called a halocline.
How Hell's Bells Formed
The Hells Bells are located just on the border between the halocline and the layer of fresh water. Stalactites do not grow in the salt layer, because the salt dissolves calcite. The researchers found that the oxygen content in the halocline layer was almost zero. The freshwater layer contains oxygen. Professor Wolfgang Stinnesbeck of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Heidelberg, leads a team that explored our planet's fantastic underground world. Scientists believe that the growth of Hells Bells is due to the specific physical and biogeochemical conditions of the upper layer and halocline.
The Hell Bells are very ancient. Radiometric dating shows that they began to grow approximately 5,000 years ago. This incredibly curious process continues to this day.
“The Hell Bells of El Zapote are a mysterious ecosystem that provides the conditions for the formation of the largest underwater formations in the world,” concludes Dr. Stinnesbeck."They are morphologically unique and may have been formed by hydrochemical mediation of colonies of polyspecific microbes that appear to be still active today."
If you liked the article, read about 25 most interesting things that are not taught in school.
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