Sinkhole expert says curiosity drives him to explore
El Zacaton cenote in northwestern Mexico. The cenote, or sinkhole, was found to be over 319 meters deep and is as large as a football field. Its floating reed islands sail freely around the lake. (Image courtesy Marcus Gary.)
Marcus Gary was a commercial diver when he first encountered El Zacaton, the Earth’s deepest water–filled sinkhole. He said the mystery and beauty he found beneath its watery surface launched his ambition to become a scientist.
Gary is now a Ph.D. candidate at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout his academic career, he has returned frequently to El Zacaton to study and understand it.
In May 2007, Gary organized robotics engineers, microbiologists, and NASA scientists in a successful effort to reach the elusive bottom of the sinkhole, with the help of a very advanced robot called DEPTHX. Gary said the most difficult part of his job there was figuring out how to feed all the media the project had attracted.
Earth & Sky’s Lindsay Patterson spoke with Marcus Gary only a few days after his return from El Zacaton in May 2007.
