You are visiting the research homepage of Marcus Gary, a graduate
student of the Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of
Geosciences, at The University of Texas at Austin. The focus of study
for this project is to understand the hydrogeology and speleogenesis
of one of the deepest and most fascinating underwater caves in the
world, Sistema Zacatón. These karst features exist in the Mexican
state of Tamaulipas, and are composed of a diverse series of caves
and water-filled sinkholes that are interesting to geologists, biologists
and cave explorers. Current work stems from many years of diving exploration
that has been conducted by El Proyecto de Buceo Espeleologico Mexico
y America Central.
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Picture above is Zacatón,
the largest water-filled
sinkhole in the world. Floating grass islands called zacate
drift about on the surface of the 350 meter deep pit.
Photo by Ann Kristovich
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Research at Sistema Zacatón encompasses a variety of methods
and techniques, all of which will greatly expand our knowledge of
karst aquifers. One of the primary goals is to understand the physical
geometry of the cave system. By utilizing emerging and yet-to-be-developed
technologies related with robotics and instrumentation, these unique
environments can be explored and documented to levels of detail
previously impossible. A detailed hydrogeologic investigation is
underway to document the physical and chemical processes that have
formed such a unique and immense cave system. By understanding how
the groundwater system operates today, and inferring how processes
have evolved through time, we aim to develop an accurate model to
describe the natural conditions that have created such a amazing
cave system.
SITE INDEX
Project
History :: Site
Description :: Geology
:: Hydrogeologic
Research :: 3-D
Mapping
Geo-database
:: Personnel
:: Future
Research :: Study
area map :: Support
:: Articles
and Papers
© 2002 Department
of Geological Sciences at UT
Austin
contact marcusgary@mail.utexas.edu
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