An underwater photographer has captured Mexican caves that look like something out of a science fiction movie beneath our feet.
Martin Broen, from New York, snapped these images while visiting the Yucatán Peninsula.
Martin says he’s obsessed with capturing the beauty and photographic diversity of the cenotes and cave systems.
A cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater.
The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for water supplies by the ancient Mayan civilization.
Martin says that the flooded caves of Yucatan offer a unique set of scenarios that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
“A combination of the feeling of flying as the water is crystal clear, the light effects created by the sunlight coming into the cenote, and the spooky feeling of the hydrogen sulphide clouds,” Martin said.
“You really feel like you’re on a movie set or a different planet. You are actually exploring a world that is only known by very few cave divers or exploring worlds that no one has seen before.
“The colors are caused by tannic acid accumulating after rain. The different colors are caused by different concentrations of tannic acid and how the light hits the water.
“The hydrogen sulphide clouds, colorful light phenomena, speleothems, stalactites, and skeletons that can be found deep within the caves create an alien world right below our feet.”
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