Sima Humboldt (Sima Mayor) is an enormous

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

located on the summit of the plateau of Sarisariñama

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

in Bolívar State,

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. It is unusual for several reasons, including its enormous size and depth, its location on the top of the only forested

, having a patch of forest on its base and also due to the weathering process that formed this sinkhole. The feature is named after scientist and explorer

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

. The sinkhole was descended for the first time in 1974 and more thoroughly explored in 1976. Its volume is , with a maximum width of at its upper rim and below, and a depth of . Only 700 metres from the rim of Sima Humboldt there is another enormous sinkhole, Sima Martel. Both were first spotted in 1961 by pilot Harry Gibson. In total there are four caves on Sarisariñama.

References

{{Tepuis , Venezuela Quartzite caves Geography of Bolívar (state) Caves of Venezuela Sinkholes of South America