Yucatan Peninsula – आवारा मुसाफिर

A hidden paradise under threat

June 1, 2024220 Views

A fragile system of 10,000 subterranean caverns, rivers and lakes wind almost surreptitiously under Mexico’s southern Yucatan peninsula Now, construction of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s crown jewel project – the Maya Train – is destroying part of that cave network Rays of sunlight slice through pools of crystal water as clusters of fish cast shadows on the limestone below. Arching over the emerald basin are walls of stalactites dripping down the cavern ceiling, which opens to a dense jungle. These glowing sinkhole lakes – known as cenotes – are a part of one of Mexico’s natural wonders: A fragile system of an estimated 10,000 subterranean caverns, rivers and lakes that wind almost surreptitiously beneath Mexico’s southern Yucatan peninsula. Now, construction o...

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Dinosaur-killing asteroid impact fouled Earth’s atmosphere with dust

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 31, 2023596 Views

It was, to put it mildly, a bad day on Earth when an asteroid smacked Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, causing a global calamity that erased three-quarters of the world's species and ended the age of dinosaurs. The immediate effects included wildfires, quakes, a massive shockwave in the air and huge standing waves in the seas. But the coup de grâce for many species may have been the climate catastrophe that unfolded in the following years as the skies were darkened by clouds of debris and temperatures plunged. Researchers on Monday revealed the potent role that dust from pulverized rock ejected into the atmosphere from the impact site may have played in driving extinctions, choking the atmosphere and blocking plants from harnessing sunlight for life-sustaining energy...

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Ancient Maya city discovered in Mexican jungle

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June 21, 2023640 Views

A previously unknown ancient Maya city has been discovered in the jungles of southern Mexico, the country's anthropology institute said on Tuesday, adding it was likely an important center more than a thousand years ago. The city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, three plazas with "imposing buildings" and other structures arranged in almost-concentric circles, the INAH institute said. A view shows a part of an engraved stone after archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered an ancient Mayan city inside the Balamku ecological reserve in Campeche state, Mexico in this photo released and distributed by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History on June 20, 2023. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropolog...

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At Mexico’s Chichen Itza site, researchers discover ancient ‘elite’ residences

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February 12, 2023855 Views

Archaeologists have revealed a group of structures discovered at the famed Mayan Chichen Itza archaeological site in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, believed to have been part of a housing complex inhabited by the elite of the sacred city founded in the 5th Century AD. Archaeologist Francisco Perez Ruiz said there were no known residential groups in Chichen Itza, meaning the housing complex would represent "the first residential group where a ruler lived with his entire family." Workers of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) work in the restoration of Chichen Viejo during a media tour at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in Piste, Mexico February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Lorenzo Hernandez The area, known as Chichen Viejo, is expected to be integrated in the...

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Collapse, contamination: Mexican scientists sound alarm at Mayan Train

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

January 5, 2023638 Views

Parts of Mexico's remote southern jungles have barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya. In the eyes of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his government is building - known as the Tren Maya - will bring modern connectivity to areas for generations deprived of significant economic benefits. But the railway and its hasty construction also critically endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor, droves of scientists and environmental activists say. A house stands on the edge of forest which has been cleared for construction of section 5 of the new Mayan Train route, in Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 6, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez The railway "is splitting the jungle in half," said Ismael Lara, a guide wh...

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Train endangers some of Mexico’s oldest pre-historic sites

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

July 19, 2022503 Views

The Mexican government has invoked national security powers to forge ahead with a tourist train along the Caribbean coast that threatens extensive caves where some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is racing to finish his Maya Train project in the remaining two years of his term over the objections of environmentalists, cave divers and archaeologists. The government had paused the project earlier this year after activists won a court injunction against the route, because it cut a swath through the jungle for tracks without previously filing an environmental impact statement. FILE PHOTO: Rogelio Jiménez Pons, director of Fonatur, points to photos of a planned train through the Yucatan Peninsula, during an inter...

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Dinosaurs’ Last Spring: Study pinpoints timing of Chicxulub asteroid impact

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December 11, 2021547 Views

Ground-breaking Study Confirms Time of Year When Asteroid Wiped Out Dinosaurs and 75 Percent of Life on Earth A ground-breaking study led by researchers at Florida Atlantic University and an international team of scientists conclusively confirms the time year of the catastrophic Chicxulub asteroid, responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs and 75 percent of life on Earth 66 million years ago. Springtime, the season of new beginnings, ended the 165-million-year reign of dinosaurs and changed the course of evolution on Earth. Results of the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, greatly enhances the ability to trace the first stages of damage to life on Earth. FAU’s Robert DePalma, senior author and an adjunct professor in the Department of Geosciences, Charles E. S...

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Hidden Mangrove forest in the Yucatan Peninsula reveals ancient sea levels

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October 5, 20211139 Views

Researchers investigate an ancient coastal ecosystem found more than 120 miles from the nearest ocean, revealing sea level impacts from the last interglacial period Deep in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, an ancient mangrove ecosystem flourishes more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the nearest ocean. This is unusual because mangroves—salt-tolerant trees, shrubs, and palms—are typically found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. A new study led by researchers across the University of California system in the United States and researchers in Mexico focuses on this luxuriant red mangrove forest. This “lost world” is located far from the coast along the banks of the San Pedro Martir River, which runs from the El Petén rainforests in Guatemala to the Balancán region in...