Foreword: Once again, a simple sounding SRS Challenge ended up taking me a LONG time to work through. I'll explain why it took so long below. But see the tomorrow's post for what this means...
When thinking about "larger patterns" of cenotes, my first inclination is to search for a map. I did a general search:
1. Cenotes seem to appear all over the Yucatán peninsula. If you look at a map of the area, it seems they all line up just inland from the Riviera Maya coastline. But I know there are cenotes in the north of the peninsula as well. Is there a larger pattern of cenotes at work here? If so, what caused that particular pattern of cenotes to form?
![]() |
The original version of this map was by Jake Bailey and David Kring for the NASA/Univ. Arizona Space Imagery Center. It was recently modified by the Lunar Planetary Institute for teaching purposes. |
![]() |
A dramatic ring of cenotes (marked by white dots) is associated with the largest peripheral gravity-gradient feature. The origin of the cenote ring remains uncertain, although the link to the underlying buried crater seems clear. (Gravity map adapted from Chicxulub Crater, Mexico, and the Cretaceous - Tertiary boundary, Canadian Space Agency.) |
![]() |
Probable cenotes near Miguel Colorado, Campeche, MX. |
2. As you know, Cancun is on the eastern side of the Yucatán, in the state of Quintana Roo. That name--Quintana Roo--has always struck me as slightly odd. Where's this name from, and why does it sound so non-Spanish? (Extra credit: How do you pronounce "Quintana Roo"? While there, I learned I've been saying it wrong all these years!)Finding this out isn't terribly hard--the query: [ Quintana Roo ] gives multiple sources telling us that Quintana Roo was made a territory of Mexico by decree of President Porfirio Díaz in 1902, and was named after an early patriot, lawyer and author, Andrés Eligio Quintana Roo. He ran the Constitutional Assembly that drafted the Mexican Declaration of Independence in 1813.
3. Speaking of Quintana Roo, when did it become a full-fledged state of the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos)?My query:
4. While walking around, I found a tree (apparently native) that is said to have been the basis for chewing gum. Really? What kind of tree is this? What's the story here?Working from what we have,