When exploring the waters along a volcanic ridge in the Atlantic Ocean, “sea explorers” discovered mysterious patterns of holes integrated onto the sea floor. The divers found dozens of holes lined up at a depth of 1.6 miles.
A week later, they found more holes on the Azores Plateau, where three tectonic plates merge. “Those holes were about a mile deep and about 300 miles away from the site of the expedition’s initial discovery” (Chung 1). The strange marks are consistently spaced at least four inches apart.
Scientists studying this case are dumbfounded. However, they’ve come across similar holes and regard them as “lebensspuren,” which is “life traces” in German. Studies show that living organisms may have made the pits.
“The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something”, says a post written by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project.
With funding from NOAA, ambitious researchers launched three expeditions called Voyage to the Ridge 2022, which started in May and will end in September. The scientists plan to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which spans more than 10,000 miles of the ocean floor.
Besides learning about the mystery of the holes, researchers also want to understand the areas where seawater is heated by magma.
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out,” Dr. Vecchione says, a researcher from NOAA. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
The final expedition launches on August 7th.
A week later, they found more holes on the Azores Plateau, where three tectonic plates merge. “Those holes were about a mile deep and about 300 miles away from the site of the expedition’s initial discovery” (Chung 1). The strange marks are consistently spaced at least four inches apart.
Scientists studying this case are dumbfounded. However, they’ve come across similar holes and regard them as “lebensspuren,” which is “life traces” in German. Studies show that living organisms may have made the pits.
“The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something”, says a post written by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project.
With funding from NOAA, ambitious researchers launched three expeditions called Voyage to the Ridge 2022, which started in May and will end in September. The scientists plan to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which spans more than 10,000 miles of the ocean floor.
Besides learning about the mystery of the holes, researchers also want to understand the areas where seawater is heated by magma.
“It reinforces the idea that there is a mystery that someday we will figure out,” Dr. Vecchione says, a researcher from NOAA. “But we haven’t figured it out yet.”
The final expedition launches on August 7th.
