On July 23, 2022, scientists on the Voyage to the Ridge deep-sea expedition discovered about a dozen holes that resembled a track of lines a mile below the surface of the ocean. The holes were found on the Azores Plateau, an area where three tectonic plates meet.
Scientists spotted similar holes during a deep-sea exploration in 2004, about 27 miles from the recent sighting. Experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted about the mystery of the holes on social media. Comments poured in, speculating that the holes could be man-made, were left by extraterrestrials, are tracks left by a submarine, or maybe even are the breathing holes of a creature buried under the sand.
Michael Vecchione, a NOAA deep-sea biologist, published a paper on the holes when they were first discovered in 2004, proposing that the holes could be the result of either marine life walking or swimming on the surface of the sea floor and jabbing holes down, or marine life burrowing under the sand and poking holes up.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said the post on Twitter from NOAA’s Ocean Exploration project. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
The re-discovery of the holes is just one part of a deep-sea exploration scientists are currently conducting in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a range of mountains that stretches over 10,000 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists hope to find more answers about deep-sea marine life, including information about what lives along ranges of underwater volcanoes, deep-sea coral, and sponge communities through Voyage to the Ridge 2022.
Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator aboard the NOAA ship, said that these ecosystems are “some of the most valuable marine ecosystems on Earth” and “fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds produced by all of these life-forms.”
Scientists also want to learn more about areas where seawater is heated by magma and deep-sea life-forms rely on magma and chemicals, instead of the sun, to survive. All in all, there is still much to be learned about the ocean floor and deep-sea marine life.
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out. But we haven’t figured it out yet,” says Dr. Vecchione.
Scientists spotted similar holes during a deep-sea exploration in 2004, about 27 miles from the recent sighting. Experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted about the mystery of the holes on social media. Comments poured in, speculating that the holes could be man-made, were left by extraterrestrials, are tracks left by a submarine, or maybe even are the breathing holes of a creature buried under the sand.
Michael Vecchione, a NOAA deep-sea biologist, published a paper on the holes when they were first discovered in 2004, proposing that the holes could be the result of either marine life walking or swimming on the surface of the sea floor and jabbing holes down, or marine life burrowing under the sand and poking holes up.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said the post on Twitter from NOAA’s Ocean Exploration project. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
The re-discovery of the holes is just one part of a deep-sea exploration scientists are currently conducting in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a range of mountains that stretches over 10,000 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists hope to find more answers about deep-sea marine life, including information about what lives along ranges of underwater volcanoes, deep-sea coral, and sponge communities through Voyage to the Ridge 2022.
Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator aboard the NOAA ship, said that these ecosystems are “some of the most valuable marine ecosystems on Earth” and “fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds produced by all of these life-forms.”
Scientists also want to learn more about areas where seawater is heated by magma and deep-sea life-forms rely on magma and chemicals, instead of the sun, to survive. All in all, there is still much to be learned about the ocean floor and deep-sea marine life.
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out. But we haven’t figured it out yet,” says Dr. Vecchione.
