20 hectares of the Chakanbakán lagoon, in southern Mexico, disappeared overnight. This lagoon, located in the ancient Mayan city –and biosphere reserve– of Calakmul, in Campeche, was literally swallowed by the earth. The event, which surprised specialists from around the worldis due to a hydrological phenomenon known in the Mayan language as xuch.
The result is shocking. But according to geologists and biologists who have studied the area, the sinkholes in the Chakanbakán lagoon will close, making it possible for rain to eventually fill the lagoon.
Nevertheless, The damage is already done: this unexpected desiccation will affect the inhabitants –who were planning a tourism project–, as well as to species that are in danger of extinction and that inhabit the areasuch as the puma and the ocelot.
But why is it called xuch to this phenomenon?
xuch is a verb that means “devour by mouth”. That is why this natural phenomenon is known like that. But also because it existed in Yucatan a geological site called Xuch by the ancient settlers of the Puuc region: an area where one of the most important Mayan civilizations settled at the beginning of our era.
According to the research work of archaeologist Christian Isendhalthe Xuch site was named after the vertical limestone channels that the inhabitants built during the droughts in the bodies of water, which connected the surface of the earth with the aquifers through sinkholes (or xuch).
The xuch It was a engineering that the Mayan civilization used in Puuc to collect water in naturally formed depressions, which were probably connected to the aquifers. In this way, the inhabitants could continue cultivating even during the dry season.
But the Mayans knew of the latent danger that artificially constructed channels and sinkholes would cause the earth to collapse, causing the same thing that happened recently in the Chakanbakán lagoon: the sudden drying up of bodies of water.
For this reason, part of the engineering of the xuch it included technology to control the flow of water through the artificial sinkholes. The question is: if the Mayans did that, why didn’t we?
Today, the disappearance of Lake Chakanbakán reminds us of the delicate balance of existence. But it also raises a question for us: if we could avoid certain phenomena for the good of ecosystems and ourselves, why not? Perhaps because there is practically no investment in projects for the environment in Mexico.
Our rulers have prioritized the development of large megaprojects over the protection of ecosystems. Paradoxically, These megaprojects could cause natural phenomena such as the xuch they intensifydue to the weight of many of the infrastructures that are built in natural areas (such as hydroelectric plants, highways or tourist centers) and that cause enormous underground fractures.
In addition, bodies of water have already been lost in the Atoyac, Tilapa and Tlacuapa rivers.
It is worth remembering that the phenomenon of sinkholes is present even in cities: Mexico City is experiencing a gradual subsidence that puts the city and all its inhabitants at risk, as it causes sinkholes, floods and many other phenomena.
Although it is urgent to find solutions to avoid catastrophes of enormous magnitude in the near future, little is being done about these geological problems.
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