Sistema Huautla

Sistema Huautla is a cave system in the Sierra Mazateca mountains of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. As of 2013 it is the deepest and longest cave system in the Western Hemisphere, 5069 feet from top to bottom, with over 40 miles of mapped passageways.

Location

Sistema Huautla is a cave system in the Sierra Mazateca mountains in the Teotitlán District of the Cañada region in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca. It is below the municipalities of Huautla de Jimenez, Huautepec and Mazatlan Villa de Flores.[1]:713

History

In 1965 cavers from Austin, Texas exploring the Sierra Mazateca mountains found several large caves; During the 1960's North American cavers subsequently gathered survey data and generated maps which showed their proximity to each other. Over time the Sótano de San Agustin was found to be connected to La Grieta and Nita Nanta, and eight more cave entrances were discovered. It became clear that they belonged to one cave system, Sistema Huautla.[2] As of 2015 it is known to have 20 entrances.

In an expedition in 1977, the deepest point of the cave system was discovered after staging multiple underground camps, a flooded tunnel at 1325 meters, known as the San Agustín sump. Subsequent scuba diving expeditions in 1979 and 1981 proved logistically insufficient to transport equipment to explore it further. In 1994, during a 135 day expedition of 44 people, mostly from the UK and the US, 11 were cave diving using closed cycle life support systems called rebreathers. They explored three parts of the sump system and discovered an upstream tunnel leading to the only known exit for the water that enters the Huautla caves, the spring of Peña Colorada.[3] During a two month expedition in 2013 involving 40 team members from the UK, USA, Canada, Poland and Mexico, cavers entered through Sótano de San Agustin; it took divers three weeks to reach "what looked like a calm, rock-enclosed lake about 100 feet wide", the San Agustín sump.[2] One of them established a new record depth when stopping at 1545 meters. The new survey data gave the cave a total length of 64.2 kilometers. A navigable connection between where water enters Sistema Huautla and where it exits at Peña Colorada has yet to be found.[4][5]

Since then consecutive annual expeditions have been launched as part of the Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla (PESH).

Geology

Sistema Huautla is a karst groundwater basin.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 C. William Steele, James H. Smith Jr. (2012). "Sistema Huautla, Mexico". In William B. White, David C. Culver. Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. pp. 712–718. ISBN 9780123838322.
  2. 1 2 David Browne. "Reaching a New Low in the Western Hemisphere's Deepest Cave". Men's Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Bill Stone (n.d.). "1994 San Agustín Expedition". U.S. Deep Caving Team, Inc. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Sistema Huautla Becomes Deepest Cave in the Western Hemisphere". Caving News. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Olivia Williams (20 June 2013). "Journey to the centre of the Earth (...well, almost!) British explorer's team set new record after going almost a MILE underground in Mexican cave". Daily Mail. Retrieved 12 April 2016.

Further reading

External links

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