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I'm not familiar with Mallorca's hydrogeology, but I've done some cenote (cavern) diving in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The caves are inland, but sea water infiltrates through the porous and channel-filled rock. The water nearer the surface is rainwater.

The narrow region where freshwater and seawater intermingle is called the halocline, it creates a cool optical distortion which reminds me of the "oil paint" filter in photoshop.



This probably is a stupid question, but wouldn't the salty seawater be lighter than the rain water, and thus be at the surface ?


Salty water is quite literally more dense than fresh water. Average seawater is 1025 kg/m^3, pure water is nominally 1000 kg/m^3.

Somewhat related video: dense brine that doesn't freeze in Arctic sea ice sinks rapidly through liquid seawater below

https://youtu.be/WyWn1XJ9kTE


Oh geez, you're absolutely right, I don't know what I was thinking. I probably needed my morning coffee.


It's OK, stingrays like you aren't expected to know about polar regions and super cold water.




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