Dean's Blue Hole

Dean's Blue Hole
Dean's Blue Hole
Map showing the location of Dean's Blue Hole
Location Clarence Town, Long Island, The Bahamas
Coordinates 23°6′23″N 75°0′31″W / 23.10639°N 75.00861°W / 23.10639; -75.00861Coordinates: 23°6′23″N 75°0′31″W / 23.10639°N 75.00861°W / 23.10639; -75.00861
Depth 202 metres (663 ft)[1]
Geology blue hole

Dean's Blue Hole is a blue hole located in The Bahamas in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island and which is the world's second deepest with a depth of 202 metres (663 ft)[1] after the Dragon Hole in the South China Sea. For several years it was considered the deepest blue hole in the world.

Formation

A blue hole is a water-filled sinkhole with the entrance below the water level. They can be formed in different karst processes, for example, by rainwater soaking through fractures of limestone bedrock onto the watertable. Sea level here has changed: for example, during the glacial age during the Pleistocene epoch (ice age), some 15,000 years ago, sea level was considerably lower.

Dean's Blue Hole is roughly circular at the surface, with a diameter ranging from 25 to 35 metres (82–115 ft). After descending 20 metres (66 ft), the hole widens considerably into a cavern with a diameter of 100 metres (330 ft).

Since April 2008, it has been the venue for Vertical Blue, the annual freediving international competition organised by William Trubridge.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Wilson, William L. (1994). "Morphometry and Hydrology of Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island". Bahamas Journal of Science. 2 (1): 10–14. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012.
  2. ↑ "Events". Vertical Blue. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
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