Astonishment and mystery when discovering a natural swimming pool hidden in a cave 200 meters deep

More than a year after the discovery of a natural swimming pool whitish in color and approx. 200 meters deep in the cave of Lechuguilla, inside the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, In the state of New Mexico, mystery and wonder endure in the scientific community of the United States.

The discovery took place in October 2019 and was led by an expedition led by the geoscientist Max Wisshak, who told through the social networks of the park that this natural beauty “Appears to be completely unpolluted”.

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The first photo of this underground wonder was posted on May 31, 2020 on the park’s official Facebook account. In the post, the researcher said: “Exploring caves sometimes produces magnificent views.” And he didn’t lie, the postcard is beautiful, it shows a small lake of whitish water which rests calmly on a bed of white rock.

Wisshak, also a specialist in marine bioerosion, explained that the body of water it is bordered by small stalactites which may correspond to what scientists call “Pool fingers”, which could be “bacterial colonies that evolved without any human presence”.

During the exploration, the researchers took special care to ensure that no pollutants were introduced into the water and did not affect the ecosystem.

“This pond has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years and it had never seen the light of day before this day, ”said Rodney Horrocks, responsible for the natural and cultural resources of this national park, in dialogue with Kansas City Star.

For his part, Wisshak added that “these intact pools are scientifically important because the water samples are relatively free of contaminants and microbial organisms who can inhabit them are only those who are there ”.

According to Horrocks, in the past, microbiologists have found new species microbes in the other basins of Lechuguilla, so this new discovery could bring more surprises.

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The team that reached these depths obtained permission to explore after the discovery of a body of groundwater in 1993, which they called “the lake of the liquid sky.”

The Lechuguilla cave It is so far considered the fifth longest in the world, with 223 kilometers long, and also the deepest throughout the Americas.

Since June 2020, due to the pandemic, access to the cave is limited to investigators authorized to explore, and those corresponding to those managed by the National Park Service, belonging to the Department of the Interior of the United States government.