earth science

Sistema Sac Actun

Sistema Sac Actun is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sistema Sac Actun rather than just read about it. In short: Sistema Sac Actun (Yucatec Maya: sak aktun, lit. 'white cave', Spanish: sistema, lit. 'system') is an underwater cave system situated along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula with passages to the north and west of the city of Tulum. Discovery of a connection to Sistema Dos Ojos in 2018 made it the longest known underwater cave system.

Key takeaways

Sistema Sac Actun belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sistema Sac Actun to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sistema Sac Actun from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sistema Sac Actun (Yucatec Maya: sak aktun, lit. 'white cave', Spanish: sistema, lit. 'system') is an underwater cave system situated along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula with passages to the north and west of the city of Tulum. Discovery of a connection to Sistema Dos Ojos in 2018 made it the longest known underwater cave system. As of January 2023, it is the second longest underwater cave system in the world, only surpassed by Sistema Ox Bel Ha. The remains of a mastodon and a human female that might be the oldest evidence of human habitation in the Americas have been found in the cave.

History of exploration Exploration started from Gran Cenote 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Tulum. The whole of the explored cave system lies within the Municipality of Tulum, in the state of Quintana Roo. In early 2007, the underwater cave Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich was connected into and subsumed into Sac Actun making it the longest surveyed underwater cave system in the world. Sac Actun measured 230.8 km (143.4 mi) (after connecting with Sistema Aktun Hu (34 km (21 mi)(in January 2011) and is, as of January 2023 with an explored length of 259.5 kilometers (161.2 mi), only surpassed by the Sistema Ox Bel Ha at 435.8 kilometers (270.8 mi). Since early 2007, these two caves have frequently exchanged the title of world's longest underwater cave. Including connected dry caves makes Sistema Sac Actun 386.122 km (239.925 mi) long, the second longest cave in Mexico and third longest worldwide. On December 9, 2004, after a dive with two other teammates, Kent Hirsch and Michael Nast were drowned deep in the cave as they got lost and exhausted their oxygen supply. In 2018, the discovery of a link between the Sac Actun system (reported to be 263 km (163 mi) long) and the Dos Ojos system in Tulum, Quintana Roo (84 km (52 mi) long) was reported. The connection was found by the Gran Maya Aquifer Project (GAM), led by the cave diver and explorer Robbie Schmittner. The combined system is reported to be the world's second longest underwater cave system known.

Upper Paleolithic remains In March 2008, three members of the Proyecto Espeleológico de Tulum and Global Underwater Explorers dive team, Alex Alvarez, Franco Attolini, and Alberto Nava, explored a section of Sistema Aktun Hu known as the Hoyo Negro pit. At a depth of 60 meters (200 ft) the divers located the remains of a mastodon, as well as a human skull at 43 meters (141 ft) that might be the oldest evidence of human habitation in the Americas. Additional bones were located and the skeleton was later identified as that of a teenage female now referred to as Naia.

See also Eve of Naharon – Hominin fossil List of caves List of caves in Mexico List of sinkholes of Mexico – Links to Wikipedia articles on sinkholes, blue holes, dolines, cenotes, and pit caves Paleo-Indians – Classification term given to the first peoples who entered the American continents Settlement of the Americas – Prehistoric migration from Asia to the AmericasPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Speleology – Science of cave and karst systems

References

Steve Gerrard (2000). The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya. ISBN 0-9677412-0-3. online Version. Retrieved January 14, 2011.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sistema Sac Actun

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sistema Sac Actun claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sistema Sac Actun before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sistema Sac Actun ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sistema Sac Actun

In research: Sistema Sac Actun appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sistema Sac Actun in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sistema Sac Actun is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Caves of Mexico, First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites, Landforms of Quintana Roo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sistema Sac Actun outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sistema Sac Actun in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sistema Sac Actun means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sistema Sac Actun out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sistema Sac Actun in simple terms?

Why does Sistema Sac Actun matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sistema Sac Actun?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sistema Sac Actun.