Scientists discovered patterns of holes in the unexplored areas of the Atlantic Ocean but did not know where they came from.
Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists and sea divers use remotely operated vehicles to explore the deep ocean. On July 23, some of them found dozens of holes near Portugal on the Azore Plateau. The holes were around 1 mile deep and were at a depth of 1.6 miles.
A couple of weeks later, more sightings of these holes were around the same region. Scientists said that these holes were likely to be made by living organisms. However, the question was: which organisms make these holes in a line on the ocean floor?
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped. The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something,” said one post on Twitter from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration (NOAA) project.
Around two decades ago, there were similar sightings of the same type of holes 27 miles away. However, there haven’t been any answers to what created the holes. Because of that, experts working with NOAA are leading expeditions to seek these answers. Were the holes man-made? Were they created by some sort of underwater machinery like a submarine? Were they created by any undiscovered sea creatures?
Scientist Dr. Vecchione wrote a paper about these mysterious holes in 2004 and proposed two hypotheses for the creation of these holes. Both of them involved marine creatures poking holes in the floor either from above or below.
Scientists are now using remotely operated vehicles to see whether or not there are sea creatures below the holes, but the mysterious cause of these holes has not been solved yet.
Dr. Vecchione is glad that there have been more of these holes discovered in recent years.
“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.”
There-Are-Holes-on-the-Ocean-Floor.-Scientists-Dont-Know-Why.-The-New-York-Times-1
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Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists and sea divers use remotely operated vehicles to explore the deep ocean. On July 23, some of them found dozens of holes near Portugal on the Azore Plateau. The holes were around 1 mile deep and were at a depth of 1.6 miles.
A couple of weeks later, more sightings of these holes were around the same region. Scientists said that these holes were likely to be made by living organisms. However, the question was: which organisms make these holes in a line on the ocean floor?
“The origin of the holes has scientists stumped. The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something,” said one post on Twitter from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration (NOAA) project.
Around two decades ago, there were similar sightings of the same type of holes 27 miles away. However, there haven’t been any answers to what created the holes. Because of that, experts working with NOAA are leading expeditions to seek these answers. Were the holes man-made? Were they created by some sort of underwater machinery like a submarine? Were they created by any undiscovered sea creatures?
Scientist Dr. Vecchione wrote a paper about these mysterious holes in 2004 and proposed two hypotheses for the creation of these holes. Both of them involved marine creatures poking holes in the floor either from above or below.
Scientists are now using remotely operated vehicles to see whether or not there are sea creatures below the holes, but the mysterious cause of these holes has not been solved yet.
Dr. Vecchione is glad that there have been more of these holes discovered in recent years.
“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.”
There-Are-Holes-on-the-Ocean-Floor.-Scientists-Dont-Know-Why.-The-New-York-Times-1
Download
