Structure and hydrogeology of the Ox Bel’Ha karstic system, Mexico

The Ox Bel’Ha and Sac Actun karstic systems are among the longest coastal cave systems in the world. These systems are located around and below the city of Tulum on the east side of the Yucatan peninsula. Divers have explored and mapped them for years and obtained detailed topographical information. The caves are mainly shallow (15-30 m below surface) and form a dense network of submerged caves directly outflowing to the ocean. The rapid urban development of Tulum goes with decreasing groundwater quality in the karstic system and a new threat for the coral reef and its biodiversity. After introducing the context, we will show that the karstic networks display self-similar properties with clear scaling behaviors.  We also show that these properties can be reproduced with subnetworks of percolation clusters. We will conclude by showing some preliminary results concerning the simulation of the Ox Bel’Ha graph geometries using IA-based generative algorithms that were recently obtained in the framework of the ERC Karst project.