I wonder if the chicxulub impact was a factor in its formation
It's interesting that you bring this question to light... Technically, I believe that indeed it very well may have!
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f2d3a1c2213c.jpg[/atsimg]
This is a radar GIS map of the actual Chicxulub impact crater, which shows that it's laying half on land and half in water The white dots surrounding
it on the Peninsula are what are called Cenotes, a.k.a. sinkhole type caverns. Most cenotes are indeed filled with freshwater reserves due to them
forming within base shattered limestone formations that were fused back together from the heat. These cenotes have been carved out over the millenia
by water, forming massive, interconnected caverns.
The world's longest underground river has been discovered flowing through a network of these cenotes, one of which I posted an image of above, from
National Geographic. It's the one with the boy floating in the azure blue water, underneath tree roots and stactites!
Many of these cenotes interconnect, and some even span out under the continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, completely full of fresh water! Divers
have verified this.
The Mayans hold Cenotes as sacred, due to the fact that it's these cenotes that provided them the waters that sustaines them. A massive effort is
underway to locate as many of these cenotes as possible due to the fact that the ones that have been explored have provided a wealth of historical
data in the form of remains of humans and animals, as well as Mayan artifacts of astounding detail!
As can be seen in the maps of both Naica and of Chihuahua that I've provided, they aren't that far away from the yucatan Peninsula!
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bbd3a0540865.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f8d308829728.jpg[/atsimg]
It may have been the meteor impact that caused the massive magma chamber to form under Naica as well, which was the actual deciding factor that
created these caverns... Heat and pressure, which formed crystals, instead of flowstone!.
Good call... lol. I was actually waiting for someone to make that deduction! =
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[edit on 7/10/2010 by Megiddodiddo]