World's deepest sinkhole underwater discovered
A giant underwater sinkhole found in the South China Sea is believed to be the deepest in the world. The finding was announced on Friday by researchers from China, reported Huanqiu.com, an affiliation to People's Daily Online.
Dubbed the 'Dragon Hole' by the Chinese, the limestone cave is 300.89 metres (987 feet) deep, which is nearly the height of the 1,003-foot-tall skyscraper, The Shard.
The world's deepest underwater sinkhole was thought to be the Dean's Blue Hole in Bahamas, which measures 202 meters (663 feet) deep, before Chinese researchers made the announcement on July 22.
The underwater sinkhole is located at 16.31 degrees north latitude and 111.46 degrees east longitude under the surface of the South China sea, according to China Radio International.
It's situated near the disputed Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese.
Underwater sinkholes are also known as blue holes. Chinese experts measured the dimensions of the blue hole during field research between August, 2015, and June, 2016, according to state-run Huanqiu.com.
With the help of equipment including sonar scanners, deep-sea current meters, underwater robots and underwater cameras, they found out the sinkhole is 300.89 meters (987 feet) in depth.
They also measured the width of the sinkhole, which is 130 meters (426 feet) at the entrance and about 36 meters (118 feet) at the bottom.
Experts said they had also discovered about 20 marine species in the cave.