On July 23, North of the Azores, near Portugal’s mainland, scientists were shocked to find dozens of holes in the ocean floor. Driving the remote-controlled machine on the largely unexplored ocean floor, they found the holes to be 1.6 miles deep.
Then, a week later, scientists found four more holes 300 miles away from the previous location. These holes were about a mile deep. These holes are called lebensspuren, which means “life traces” in German, referring to the indents by the holes that are theorized to be created by living organisms.
Scientists are still unsure about what created these holes spaced 4 or more inches apart and the lines extending from 5 feet to more than 6 feet on the ocean floor.
“The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project posted on Twitter.
In 2004, Dr. Vecchione and Odd Aksel Bergstad, former researchers at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, proposed two main hypotheses for the phenomenon. It may be sea creatures burrowing within the ocean floor and digging down, or creatures from within burrowing holes out. The holes seen on Thursday appeared to have been pushed out from underneath, Vecchione reported.
Vecchione said that while he was glad to see the ocean floor holes again, he was “a little disappointed” that scientists still lacked an explanation.
These holes were also sighted two decades ago 27 miles away from the current expedition’s location, according to NOAA spokeswoman, Emily Crum. Despite how long the strange phenomenon has been known about, no answers have been discovered about how these holes formed. This is only one of the thousands of mysteries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the scientists are currently studying.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Vecchione said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
Researchers in NOAA are currently launching Voyage to the Ridge 2022, which began in May and will conclude in September. They are trying to find answers across the deep underwater mountains of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is 10,000 miles below the Atlantic Ocean. They are looking for answers about the deep-sea coral and sponge communities and about the areas heated by magma, where sea life gets their energy from, like our sun.
Then, a week later, scientists found four more holes 300 miles away from the previous location. These holes were about a mile deep. These holes are called lebensspuren, which means “life traces” in German, referring to the indents by the holes that are theorized to be created by living organisms.
Scientists are still unsure about what created these holes spaced 4 or more inches apart and the lines extending from 5 feet to more than 6 feet on the ocean floor.
“The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project posted on Twitter.
In 2004, Dr. Vecchione and Odd Aksel Bergstad, former researchers at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, proposed two main hypotheses for the phenomenon. It may be sea creatures burrowing within the ocean floor and digging down, or creatures from within burrowing holes out. The holes seen on Thursday appeared to have been pushed out from underneath, Vecchione reported.
Vecchione said that while he was glad to see the ocean floor holes again, he was “a little disappointed” that scientists still lacked an explanation.
These holes were also sighted two decades ago 27 miles away from the current expedition’s location, according to NOAA spokeswoman, Emily Crum. Despite how long the strange phenomenon has been known about, no answers have been discovered about how these holes formed. This is only one of the thousands of mysteries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the scientists are currently studying.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Vecchione said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.”
Researchers in NOAA are currently launching Voyage to the Ridge 2022, which began in May and will conclude in September. They are trying to find answers across the deep underwater mountains of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is 10,000 miles below the Atlantic Ocean. They are looking for answers about the deep-sea coral and sponge communities and about the areas heated by magma, where sea life gets their energy from, like our sun.
