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英闻独家摘选：海底惊现神秘大洞！疑藏外星密码

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Surprise discovery of world's 2nd deepest blue hole could provide window into Earth's history

The second deepest blue hole in the world has been discovered off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The giant, underwater cavern is around 900 feet deep and spans an area of 147,000 square feet. (13,660 square meters).

That's just shy of the record set by the world's deepest known blue hole — the Dragon Hole in the South China Sea — which was discovered in 2016 and is thought to be more than 980 feet (300 m) deep.

Blue holes are large, undersea vertical caves or sinkholes found in coastal regions. Many contain a high diversity of plant and marine life, including corals, sea turtles and sharks. The one in Chetumal, named Taam Ja’ which means "deep water" in Mayan, has steep sides with slopes of almost 80 degrees, and the mouth of the cavern sits around 15 feet (4.6 m) below sea level. Scientists from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur), a public research center coordinated by Mexico's National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), first discovered it in 2021. A study of the find was published Feb. 23 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Blue holes form when sea water meets limestone. Limestone is very porous, so water easily permeates the rock, enabling chemicals in the water to react with the limestone, eating it away. Many of the world's blue holes likely formed during past ice ages, when the repeated flooding and draining of coastal areas eroded the rock and created voids. When the last ice age ended around 11,000 years ago and sea levels rose, these caverns filled with water and some were completely immersed.

Because blue holes are so hard to reach, scientists haven't studied many of them.

“They are largely poorly understood,” Christopher G. Smith(opens in new tab), a coastal geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) who has studied other submarine sinkholes but was not involved in the latest research, told Live Science in an email. Smith added that the unique seawater chemistry in blue holes suggests they may interact with groundwater and possibly aquifers — bodies of rock or sediment that hold groundwater.

Blue holes contain little oxygen, and sunlight only shines on the surface. Despite these conditions, the gigantic voids are teeming with life that has adapted to the low-oxygen environment.

Blue holes may offer a snapshot of what life was like thousands of years ago. Without much oxygen or light, fossils can be well-preserved, enabling scientists to identify the remains of extinct species, the researchers noted in the study.

Blue holes may also tell us more about life on other planets. In 2012, researchers peering into blue holes in the Bahamas found bacteria deep in the caverns where no other lifeforms dwelled. Such findings could offer clues as to what life may exist in the extreme conditions

注释：

shy: n

表示""，means "a quick throw"，如：he gave the ball a shy to the first baseman. 他把球快速扔给那个棒球垒手。

limestone: n

表示" 石灰石"，如：Caves form when water infiltrates limestone. 水渗透石灰石则形成洞穴。

porous： adj

表示"多孔的"，means "full of pores or vessels or holes"，如：Most soils and rocks are porous. 大部分土壤和岩石都是多孔的。

permeate: v

表示"渗透；"，means "pass through or into every part of"，如：His subtle satisfaction seemed to permeate the space around them. 他难以捉摸的满足感好像弥漫在了他们的周围。

sinkhole: n

表示"排水口；污水坑"，means "a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof"，如：The sinkhole was caused by rains and an underground sewage flow. 这个塌方的污水池是由于雨水和地下污水流动造成的。

aquifer: n

表示"含水土层(含水量足以成为井水或泉水)"，means "underground bed or layer yielding ground water for wells and springs etc"，如：Recharge areas are necessary for a healthy aquifer. 补给区对于一个正常的含水层来说是必需的。

sediment: n

表示"沉淀物"，means "solid material that settles to the bottom of a liquid"，如：He emptied out the water barrel to clear it of sediment. 他把水桶倒空以清掉桶底的沉淀物。

teem: v

表示" 充满；倾泻"，means "have in great numbers; pour"，如：The river teems with all kinds of fish in summer.夏天这条河里各种各样的鱼多得很。 The rain teemed down for hours.大雨一直下了好几个小时。

peer: v

表示" 凝视；窥视"，means " look very carefully or hard"，如：She peer at me over the top of her glasses. 她从眼镜上方盯着我看。

中文简要说明：

elsewhere in our solar system.

科学家近日宣布，在墨西哥外海发现巨大蓝洞（blue hole），面积达14.7万平方英尺，深达900英尺（约274公尺），是全球第二深蓝洞，换算下来，相当于3座自由女神像高。外媒指出，发现蓝洞有助于科学家一窥地球历史及外星上的可能生物。

综合科学新闻网站「生活科学」（Live Science）、英国《每日邮报》（Daily Mail）报导，墨西哥公立科学研究中心「El Colegio de la Frontera Sur」团队2021年在墨西哥尤加丹半岛（Yucatan Peninsula）沿岸海底发现神秘的巨大蓝洞，自此展开探勘，直到2月底才在国际知名期刊《海洋科学前沿》（Frontiers In Marine Science）公布研究成果。

研究发现，这座蓝洞面积达14.7万平方英尺，深达900英尺，是全球第二大蓝洞，若换算深度，相当于3座纽约自由女神像，科学家将这座蓝洞命名为「Taam Ja’」，在马雅文里意旨「深水」。目前全球最深的蓝洞是位在南海的龙洞（Dragon Hole），深度超过980英尺（约300公尺）。

蓝洞相当于海底的「天坑」，当海水遇上石灰岩时形成。石灰岩有许多细缝，水能够轻易渗透岩石，让水中的化学物质与石灰岩交互作用，渐渐侵蚀岩层。报导指出，地球上的多数蓝洞可能是在冰河时期形成的，沿海地区反复发生洪水及退潮，形成坑洞，当11000年前最后一次冰河时期结束、海平面上升，海水淹过这些坑洞，成为蓝洞。

蓝洞的含氧量相当低，阳光也只照射到表层，不过里头仍充满能适应低氧环境的生物，研究团队指出，蓝洞或许能让我们一窥千年前的地球生活样貌，由于缺乏阳光及氧气，化石正好能受到良好保存，有助于科学家辨识已灭绝生物。

蓝洞或许也能帮助我们一窥外星生命，例如2012年一组科学家在巴哈马一处没有生物居住的蓝洞发现细菌，这类研究成果为科学家提供线索，能一窥太阳系其他星球的极端条件下可能存在哪种生命形态。

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