If you were to explore a certain volcanic ridge at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, you would find an interesting pattern of holes in the sand.
Scientists discovered the holes on July 23, north of the Azores, near mainland Portugal. The holes created a track on the ocean floor, at a depth of 1.6 miles.
These holes weren’t the last ones found. On Thursday, July 29, there were four more sightings along the Azores Plateau, an “underwater terrain where three tectonic plates met,” according to the New York Times. The holes were about a mile deep and around 300 miles away from the first discovery.
According to the New York Times, “The scientists don’t know what the holes are, but they have encountered similar markings before and consider them to be ‘lebensspuren,’ German for ‘life traces,’ referring to impressions in sediments that could be the work of living organisms.”
While scientists are struggling to find answers, the public is being asked for their opinions.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said a post on Twitter from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
Back in 2004, around 27 miles away from the expedition’s first sighting, similar holes were spotted, according to Emily Crum, a spokeswoman for NOAA.
Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist, said that the time between the findings does not help provide scientists with clear answers as to what created the holes.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Dr. Vecchione said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
As scientists continue to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a section of a massive underwater mountain chain that stretches over 10,000 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean, they’re proving these holes are only one of the many questions that are rapidly rising from the depths of the ocean.
In order to find answers, the NOAA has organized three expeditions. Named “Voyage to the Ridge 2022,” the journeys began in May and will continue until September, leading the researchers from Newport, R.I., back to Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
The researchers want to know: “What creatures and plants live along the continuous range of underwater volcanoes? What happens when geologic processes that create life-supporting heat are halted?”
Scientists are closely studying deep-sea coral and sponge districts, “some of the most valuable marine ecosystems on Earth,” according to Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator.
Dr. Sowers explained how expeditions such as the current “Voyage to the Ridge” were “fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds produced by all of these life-forms.”
In addition to the mysterious holes, scientists also hope to learn more about places where ocean water is heated by magma. In these underwater locations, deep-sea life-forms have been absorbing energy from the heated seawater. This is unlike the majority of living things on Earth, which receive their energy from the Sun.
Dozens on social media have also given their thoughts on the holes, raising speculations on what the holes really are. Are they man-made? Maybe tracks left by a submarine? Could they be a sign of deep-sea life under the sand?
That last idea could be possible. In a paper discussing the sighting of the holes 18 years ago, Dr. Vecchione and his co-author, Odd Aksel Bergstad, former researcher from the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, suggested two main causes for the holes’ existence. Either a living organism was walking or swimming above the sand and was poking holes into it, or vise-versa: the living organism was jabbing holes up from beneath the sand.
Dr. Vecchione established that the holes seen on Thursday seem to have been pushed out from under the ocean floor.
Dr. Sowers said the vehicle exploring the area where the holes were found collected sediment—sand—samples for scientists to examine; by analyzing the sediment, researchers can discover whether or not there were or are living organisms inside the holes.
As excited as he was about encountering these perplexing holes again, Dr. Vecchione said he was slightly disappointed that “scientists still lacked an explanation.”
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that some day we will figure out,” he said. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/science/holes-ocean-floor-mystery.html
Scientists discovered the holes on July 23, north of the Azores, near mainland Portugal. The holes created a track on the ocean floor, at a depth of 1.6 miles.
These holes weren’t the last ones found. On Thursday, July 29, there were four more sightings along the Azores Plateau, an “underwater terrain where three tectonic plates met,” according to the New York Times. The holes were about a mile deep and around 300 miles away from the first discovery.
According to the New York Times, “The scientists don’t know what the holes are, but they have encountered similar markings before and consider them to be ‘lebensspuren,’ German for ‘life traces,’ referring to impressions in sediments that could be the work of living organisms.”
While scientists are struggling to find answers, the public is being asked for their opinions.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said a post on Twitter from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
Back in 2004, around 27 miles away from the expedition’s first sighting, similar holes were spotted, according to Emily Crum, a spokeswoman for NOAA.
Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist, said that the time between the findings does not help provide scientists with clear answers as to what created the holes.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Dr. Vecchione said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
As scientists continue to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a section of a massive underwater mountain chain that stretches over 10,000 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean, they’re proving these holes are only one of the many questions that are rapidly rising from the depths of the ocean.
In order to find answers, the NOAA has organized three expeditions. Named “Voyage to the Ridge 2022,” the journeys began in May and will continue until September, leading the researchers from Newport, R.I., back to Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
The researchers want to know: “What creatures and plants live along the continuous range of underwater volcanoes? What happens when geologic processes that create life-supporting heat are halted?”
Scientists are closely studying deep-sea coral and sponge districts, “some of the most valuable marine ecosystems on Earth,” according to Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator.
Dr. Sowers explained how expeditions such as the current “Voyage to the Ridge” were “fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds produced by all of these life-forms.”
In addition to the mysterious holes, scientists also hope to learn more about places where ocean water is heated by magma. In these underwater locations, deep-sea life-forms have been absorbing energy from the heated seawater. This is unlike the majority of living things on Earth, which receive their energy from the Sun.
Dozens on social media have also given their thoughts on the holes, raising speculations on what the holes really are. Are they man-made? Maybe tracks left by a submarine? Could they be a sign of deep-sea life under the sand?
That last idea could be possible. In a paper discussing the sighting of the holes 18 years ago, Dr. Vecchione and his co-author, Odd Aksel Bergstad, former researcher from the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, suggested two main causes for the holes’ existence. Either a living organism was walking or swimming above the sand and was poking holes into it, or vise-versa: the living organism was jabbing holes up from beneath the sand.
Dr. Vecchione established that the holes seen on Thursday seem to have been pushed out from under the ocean floor.
Dr. Sowers said the vehicle exploring the area where the holes were found collected sediment—sand—samples for scientists to examine; by analyzing the sediment, researchers can discover whether or not there were or are living organisms inside the holes.
As excited as he was about encountering these perplexing holes again, Dr. Vecchione said he was slightly disappointed that “scientists still lacked an explanation.”
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that some day we will figure out,” he said. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/science/holes-ocean-floor-mystery.html
