Mysterious Underwater River
Anatoly
Beloshchin is a photographer with a passion for diving. He
traveled to the Yucatan in Mexico for a dive photo shoot. What he
discovered was unbelievable!
Cenote “Angelita”
From land, Angelita looks like any an
ordinary swimming hole. It’s not until you dive almost 100 feet
that the underwater river becomes exposed.
Angelita is a cenote. A cenote is a deep sinkhole formed from the
collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath.
Cenotes are connected to subterranean bodies of water, and often have
vast underwater cave systems.
River Forming
Overtime, the deep sinkholes of the cenotes have become filled with fresh rain water. The underwater river is formed when the fresh top water meets the exposed salty groundwater.
The different density levels in the two waters causes them to
layer. The result is a breathtaking convergence of two habitats. Were
it not for a diver in the photos, you would never realize the river
is underwater. Rather, it looks like a nighttime photo shoot of a
beautiful river.The point where the two waters meet and causes a milky sort of effect is called halocline.
source: http://www.ripleys.com/weird/
