Mapimí Silent Zone

{{Infobox park

| name = Zone of Silence

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{{lang|es|La Zona del Silencio}}
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| photo = Zona-del-Silencio.jpg

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| location = Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

| coordinates = {{coord|26|41|N|103|45|W|type:landmark_region:MX_source:Google Maps|display=inline,title}}

| area =

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| operator = Municipality of Mapimí

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The Mapimí Silent Zone ({{langx|es|La Zona del Silencio}}) is the popular name for a desert patch near the Bolsón de Mapimí in Durango, Mexico, overlapping the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve. It is the subject of an urban legend that claims it is an area where radio signals and any type of communications cannot be received.{{cite web |last=Eckles |first=Jim |date=n.d. |title=The Athena That Got Away |url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/AthenatoMexico.htm |publisher=White Sands Missile Range |archive-date=22 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622001943/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/AthenatoMexico.htm}}{{cite web |last=Kaus |first=Andrea |date=n.d. |title=The Zone Of Silence of northern Mexico: scientific marvel or just fiction? |url=http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1468-the-zone-of-silence-of-nothern-mexico-scientific-marvel-or-just-fiction |website=MexConnect |accessdate=21 February 2011}}{{Cite web |date=1970-01-01 |title=What's the Zone of Silence? |url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/unexplained-phenomena/zone-silence.htm |access-date= |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us |quote="Neither I nor anyone with whom I spoke (apart from the zoneros) had any trouble with either their radios or compasses while working in the Reserve," wrote Andrea Kaus, who did her doctoral dissertation about the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve.}}

History and legends

The area was once an ancient seabed in the Tethys Ocean, which left marine fossils and large salt deposits which are mined today.{{cite web |last=Wilson |first=T. E. |title=Exploring Mexico's Zone of Silence, Where Radio Signals Fail and Meteorites Crash |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/exploring-mexicos-zone-of-silence-where-radio-signals-fail-and-meteorites-crash |website=Atlas Obscura |accessdate=25 May 2020 |date=3 November 2016}}

In July 1970, an Athena RTV test rocket launched from the Green River Launch Complex in Utah towards the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico lost control and fell in the Mapimí Desert region.{{Cite web |url=https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched-rocket-into-mexicos-mapimi-desert-45-years-ago/ |title=USAF Accidentally Launched Rocket into Mexico's Mapimi Desert 45 Years Ago |date=July 13, 2015 |access-date=March 12, 2022 |website=Unredacted |publisher=The National Security Archive |last=Barclay |first=Michael}}

When the rocket went off course, it was carrying two small containers of radioactive cobalt 57.{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19700804&id=2180AAAAIBAJ&pg=3568,432596&hl=en |title=Mexicans Find Radioactive Cone |last=Associated Press |date=August 4, 1970 |work=The Milwaukee Sentinel |access-date=July 27, 2015 |via=Google News }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19700804&id=ZclOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3586,4256164&hl=en |title=Mexicans Find Errant Rocket |last=Associated Press |date=August 4, 1970 |work=The Toledo Blade |access-date=July 27, 2015 |via=Google News |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023041610/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19700804&id=ZclOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3586,4256164&hl=en |url-status=dead }}

As part of the cleanup effort, hundreds of tons of soil were removed from the impact site.{{r|Barclay}}

As a result of the US Air Force recovery operation, a number of myths and legends relating to the area arose. Reportedly, a local resident hired to guard the crash debris during recovery operations helped spread these rumors. Legends include "strange magnetic anomalies that prevent radio transmission", mutations of flora and fauna, and extraterrestrial visitations, which have been used by locals to promote tourism in the region.{{r|Barclay}}

Mapimí Silent Zone

History and legends

See also

References

Further reading