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Foreign Correspondent: Cenotes

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Scuba divers swim underwater
Foreign Correspondent: Cenotes

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8


The Yucatán Peninsula is located in south-eastern Mexico and covers a vast area of coastline south of the Gulf of Mexico.

It is a popular tourist destination for people who travel to cities such as Cancun to enjoy sandy white beaches.

Explore the subterranean freshwater caverns of this region and discover why this pristine environment maybe under threat.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What do you know about the city of Cancun, Mexico, or the Gulf of Mexico? Apart from being popular with tourists, Cancun is located near the Yucatán Aquifer, the largest known underground river system in the world. Why would it be important to preserve such a system?
  2. 2.What is a cenote? Take note of features that make this landform distinctive. Listen when the presenter mentions limestone geology. What role does she say it plays in water flow? How does cave diver Luis Leal describe the impact of the growing tourism industry on cenotes?
  3. 3.Australia has a large underground aquifer, the well-known Great Artesian Basin. Water moves through porous sandstone and feeds springs at the surface. In what ways are the Yucatán Aquifer and its cenotes similar to and different from the Great Artesian Basin and its springs? Considering how water moves through the environment, what advice would you give about managing tourism and development on the Yucatán Peninsula?
  4. 4.Create an advertisement to attract scuba divers to cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula region. In the ad, describe what divers can expect to see, and explain briefly how cenotes are formed and why they are considered pristine waters. (Hint: Find out about 'karst' landscapes.) Pinpoint some cenote destinations on an annotated sketch map.

Date of broadcast: 12 Mar 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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