High above everyone else, an ambitious explorer climbs up Mount Everest. Deep down in the ocean, a curious diver finds a new species living on the ocean’s floor. People believe that the mysteries life gives us are just on the ground, in space and in the mountains – which is true, but oceans are full of questionable surprises too.
Scientists want to know what dwells among the seemingly endless range of underwater volcanoes. They want to understand what happens when the geologic processes that create life-supporting heat are halted. They also want to know more about the deep-sea life thriving from chemicals in areas heated by magma. Curious to find out the answers, scientists are paying close attention to deep-sea coral and sponges, also known as the most valuable marine ecosystem on Earth. They are just so precious because of the natural communities formed by the erosion of the waves overlapping the reefs. Corals and sponges can “tell” a story to help scientists understand how they survived everything and more about the other sea creatures out there.
Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ship, the Okeanos Explorer, says, “Ridge voyages [ocean expeditions to the underwater mountain ridges] are fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds [materials that have been isolated from discovery] produced by all these life forms. It expands our knowledge of what conditions may life on other planets occur under.”
A current puzzle that the scientists and explorers have set out to solve is a series of peculiar holes on the ocean’s floor. They were first spotted around 18 years ago along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, spaced 4 or more inches apart from each other, with lines extending from 5 or 6 feet. The openings in the ground are found almost everywhere – near Portugal’s mainland, 300 miles away on the Azores Plateau, just in all places.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” read the post on Twitter from NOAA. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
Having encountered similar markings and labeled them as “lebensspuren”, experts are seeking answers with three expeditions known as the Voyage to the Ridge 2022, beginning in May and concluding in September. The first two dives resulted in two main hypotheses for why the holes exist, both involving marine life “pushing” the holes from underneath. This raised many questions in the public, like if the holes could be a sign from extraterrestrials, or if they were the breathing holes of a deep-sea creature living underneath the sand.
Michael Vecchione believes that this mystery will be eventually figured out. But there is ever so much we can know about the oceans. In fact, only 5% of the ocean has ever been explored. Who knows what’s out there, lurking in the seas just beyond the waters of our beaches?
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/science/holes-ocean-floor-mystery.html
• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.812915/full
• https://twitter.com/johnkriby1/status/1551982753280925696
Scientists want to know what dwells among the seemingly endless range of underwater volcanoes. They want to understand what happens when the geologic processes that create life-supporting heat are halted. They also want to know more about the deep-sea life thriving from chemicals in areas heated by magma. Curious to find out the answers, scientists are paying close attention to deep-sea coral and sponges, also known as the most valuable marine ecosystem on Earth. They are just so precious because of the natural communities formed by the erosion of the waves overlapping the reefs. Corals and sponges can “tell” a story to help scientists understand how they survived everything and more about the other sea creatures out there.
Derek Sowers, an expedition coordinator on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ship, the Okeanos Explorer, says, “Ridge voyages [ocean expeditions to the underwater mountain ridges] are fundamental to establishing an understanding of the biodiversity of the planet and the novel compounds [materials that have been isolated from discovery] produced by all these life forms. It expands our knowledge of what conditions may life on other planets occur under.”
A current puzzle that the scientists and explorers have set out to solve is a series of peculiar holes on the ocean’s floor. They were first spotted around 18 years ago along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, spaced 4 or more inches apart from each other, with lines extending from 5 or 6 feet. The openings in the ground are found almost everywhere – near Portugal’s mainland, 300 miles away on the Azores Plateau, just in all places.
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped,” read the post on Twitter from NOAA. “The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.”
Having encountered similar markings and labeled them as “lebensspuren”, experts are seeking answers with three expeditions known as the Voyage to the Ridge 2022, beginning in May and concluding in September. The first two dives resulted in two main hypotheses for why the holes exist, both involving marine life “pushing” the holes from underneath. This raised many questions in the public, like if the holes could be a sign from extraterrestrials, or if they were the breathing holes of a deep-sea creature living underneath the sand.
Michael Vecchione believes that this mystery will be eventually figured out. But there is ever so much we can know about the oceans. In fact, only 5% of the ocean has ever been explored. Who knows what’s out there, lurking in the seas just beyond the waters of our beaches?
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/science/holes-ocean-floor-mystery.html
• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.812915/full
• https://twitter.com/johnkriby1/status/1551982753280925696
