An expedition to a deep-sea ridge, simply north of the Hawaiian Islands, revealed a shock discovery again in 2022: an historical dried-out lake mattress paved with what seems to be like a yellow brick highway.
The eerie scene was chanced upon by the exploration vessel Nautilus, whereas surveying the Liliʻuokalani ridge inside Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nationwide Monument (PMNM).
PMNM is likely one of the largest marine conservation areas on the earth, bigger than all of the nationwide parks in america mixed, and we have solely explored about 3 % of its seafloor.
Researchers on the Ocean Exploration Belief are pushing the frontiers of this wilderness, which lies greater than 3,000 meters under the waves, and one of the best half is, anybody can watch the exploration.
A spotlight reel of the expedition’s footage printed on YouTube in April 2022 captured the second researchers working the deep-sea automobile stumbled upon the highway to Oz.
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“It is the highway to Atlantis,” a researcher on the radio might be heard exclaiming.
“The yellow brick road?” one other voice counters.
“This is bizarre,” provides one other member of the staff.
“Are you kidding me? This is crazy.”
Regardless of being positioned below a couple of thousand meters of ocean, the lake mattress found by researchers on the summit of the Nootka seamount seems to be surprisingly dry.
On the radio, the staff notes that the bottom seems to be virtually like “baked crust” that may very well be peeled off.
In a single tiny part, the volcanic rock has fractured in a method that appears strikingly much like bricks.
“The unique 90-degree fractures are likely related to heating and cooling stress from multiple eruptions at this baked margin,” reads a caption to the YouTube video.
At first look, the impact is definitely mistaken for a path to a beautiful new world. And in a method, that is not altogether mistaken.
Following the brick highway is an indication we’re headed in the appropriate course and will quickly study a complete lot extra about Earth’s hidden geology.
You may learn extra concerning the 2022 E/V Nautilus expedition right here.
An earlier model of this text was printed in Could 2022.
