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LiveScience
LiveScience
James Price

Sistema Ox Bel Ha: A vast hidden system that's the longest underwater cave in the world

A photo of an underwater cave diver.
QUICK FACTS

Name: Sistema Ox Bel Ha

Location: Quintana Roo, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Coordinates: 20.18507611995248, -87.49650948586978

Why it's incredible: This massive submerged cave system is among the longest in the world and holds a number of spectacular features and remains.

Sistema Ox Bel Ha, meaning "three paths of water" in the local Mayan language, is a gigantic submerged labyrinth that runs for at least 326 miles (524 kilometers) underground, according to the Investigation Center of the Aquifer System of Quintana Roo (CINDAQ). This makes it the longest submerged system and the second-longest cave system in the world, after the 426-mile-long (686 km) Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.

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