Along a largely uncharted volcanic ridge at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists found an unusual line of eerily perfect-shaped holes 8,000 feet below the surface.
On July 23, below the island chain of the Azores near Portugal’s mainland, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found several sets of holes resembling a track of dotted lines on the ocean floor. A week later and 300 miles away, they found four more identical holes.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said the NOAA on Twitter. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by… something.”
In 2004, 27 miles from the initial sighting zone, scientists reported similar holes during an expedition, said NOAA spokeswoman Emily Crum. Two decades later, scientists still have no clear answers. “There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” said Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
From May to September 2022, NOAA is conducting three expeditions that they are calling Voyage to the Ridge 2022. The holes are but one of many questions which scientists hope to answer through the project.
Scientists want to know more about the deepest areas of the ocean, where deep-sea life derives energy from heat from magma instead of the sun. They want to know what happens when the processes creating heat cease.
Many hypotheses regarding the origins of the holes were exchanged on social media. Are the holes man-made? Extraterrestrial? Are they tracks left by a submarine? Could they have been created by a creature living under the sediment? “I don’t think of that as biological. I think it’s something related to sunken ships and fishing gear,” shared Yuki Ishii on Twitter.
Deep Discoverer’s suctioning device collected sediment samples to determine whether there was an organism inside the holes. Dr. Vecchione said that the most recent holes seemed to have been pushed out from underneath. “It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out,” he said. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
On July 23, below the island chain of the Azores near Portugal’s mainland, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found several sets of holes resembling a track of dotted lines on the ocean floor. A week later and 300 miles away, they found four more identical holes.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” said the NOAA on Twitter. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by… something.”
In 2004, 27 miles from the initial sighting zone, scientists reported similar holes during an expedition, said NOAA spokeswoman Emily Crum. Two decades later, scientists still have no clear answers. “There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” said Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
From May to September 2022, NOAA is conducting three expeditions that they are calling Voyage to the Ridge 2022. The holes are but one of many questions which scientists hope to answer through the project.
Scientists want to know more about the deepest areas of the ocean, where deep-sea life derives energy from heat from magma instead of the sun. They want to know what happens when the processes creating heat cease.
Many hypotheses regarding the origins of the holes were exchanged on social media. Are the holes man-made? Extraterrestrial? Are they tracks left by a submarine? Could they have been created by a creature living under the sediment? “I don’t think of that as biological. I think it’s something related to sunken ships and fishing gear,” shared Yuki Ishii on Twitter.
Deep Discoverer’s suctioning device collected sediment samples to determine whether there was an organism inside the holes. Dr. Vecchione said that the most recent holes seemed to have been pushed out from underneath. “It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out,” he said. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
