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A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water enters into underground passages known as ponor, swallow hole or swallet. A cenote is a type of sinkhole that exposes groundwater underneath. Sink and stream sink are more general terms for sites that drain surface water, possibly by infiltration into sediment or crumbled rock.
Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called "the Garden Parish of Jamaica" on account of its natural floral beauty. Its capital is Saint Ann's Bay. Saint Ann comprises New Seville, the first Spanish settlement in Jamaica.
Saint Catherine is a parish in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parishes because of its many resources. It includes the first capital of Jamaica, Spanish Town, originally known as San Jago de la Vega or Santiago de la Vega.
Saint Elizabeth, one of Jamaica's largest parishes, is located in the southwest of the island, in the county of Cornwall. Its capital, Black River, is located at the mouth of the Black River, the widest on the island.
The Parish of Manchester is a parish located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its capital, Mandeville, is a major business centre. Its St. Paul of the Cross Pro-Cathedral is the episcopal see of the Latin Catholic Diocese of Mandeville.
Cockpit Country is an area in Trelawny and Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Ann, Manchester and the northern tip of Clarendon parishes, mostly within the west-central side, of Jamaica. The land is marked by lush, montane forests and steep-sided valleys and hollows, as deep as 120 metres (390 ft) in places, separated by conical hills and ridges.
The Green Grotto Caves are show caves and a prominent tourist attraction on the north coast of Jamaica. Named for the green algae that cover its walls, the structure of the cave is strikingly different from inland systems; the cave is a Flank Margin Cave with two well-defined levels apparently indicating two periods with differing sea-levels. The innermost cavern contains a crystal-clear underground lake.
Jackson's Bay Cave is a very large cave on the Portland Ridge in Clarendon near the south coast of Jamaica. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. It was discovered in 1964. It is part of the Jackson bay cave system, consisting of 14 unconnected caves, and over 9200m of cumulated caves passages mapped since then. The longest of them, Jackson Bay Great Cave is over 3.360 kilometres (2.088 mi) long.
At nearly 200 metres, Smokey Hole Cave in Manchester, Jamaica is the deepest known cave in the island.
Hutchinson's Hole is a large sinkhole named after the 18th century serial killer Lewis Hutchinson, who used the sinkhole to dispose of bodies. Its depth is approximately 98 metres (322 ft), with a cave entrance some 5 by 3 metres widening to approximately 18 by 25 metres at the bottom.
Thatchfield Great Cave is a large cave in Saint Ann Parish near the north coast of Jamaica. Because it is considered to be under threat its exact location is not widely publicised.
The One-Eye River is a river in the parishes of Manchester and St Elizabeth in Jamaica. It is a tributary of the Black River.
Xtabi is a cove on the cliffs of Negril, in Westmoreland, Jamaica. It consists of a labyrinth of caves and passageways carved from solid rock over millennia of ocean water striking it.
The Rotten Gut River is a short river in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica and a tributary of the One Eye River.
Agnes Milowka was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She died aged 29 while diving in a confined space.
The Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) is a large marine and terrestrial area on the island of Jamaica located southwest of Kingston. Nearby cays such as Little Goat Island are included. It is the largest protected area in Jamaica and comprises 1,880 square kilometres (730 sq mi). Part of the task in forming the PBPA going forward is to find a balance between protecting the ecosystem from destruction by economic development and allowing the human inhabitants a means to live and work. The Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM) is charged with managing zones within the protected area.
The Jamaican greater funnel-eared bat is a species of funnel-eared bat endemic to Jamaica. Initially described as the subspecies Natalus major jamaicensis and later as a subspecies of Natalus stramineus, it has since been recognized as its own distinct species. Similar in appearance to other members of the genus Natalus, this bat resides exclusively in St. Clair Cave, Jamaica, where it feeds on insects.
Cave diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, and ranges from breath hold to surface supplied, but almost all cave diving is done using scuba equipment, often in specialised configurations with redundancies such as sidemount or backmounted twinset. Recreational cave diving is generally considered to be a type of technical diving due to the lack of a free surface during large parts of the dive, and often involves planned decompression stops. A distinction is made by recreational diver training agencies between cave diving and cavern diving, where cavern diving is deemed to be diving in those parts of a cave where the exit to open water can be seen by natural light. An arbitrary distance limit to the open water surface may also be specified. Despite the risks, water-filled caves attract scuba divers, cavers, and speleologists due to their often unexplored nature, and present divers with a technical diving challenge.
References
- General
- Fincham, A. (1998). Jamaica Underground: The Caves, Sinkholes and Underground Rivers of the Island. Kingston, Jamaica: University Press of the West Indies.
- Inline
