An expedition to a deep-sea ridge, simply north of the Hawaiian Islands, revealed a shock discovery again in 2022: an historic dried-out lake mattress paved with what seems 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 this planet, bigger than all of the nationwide parks in the US mixed, and we have solely explored about 3 p.c of its seafloor.
Researchers on the Ocean Exploration Belief are pushing the frontiers of this wilderness, which lies greater than 3,000 meters beneath the waves, and the very 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 beneath a few thousand meters of ocean, the lake mattress found by researchers on the summit of the Nootka seamount seems surprisingly dry.
On the radio, the staff notes that the bottom seems nearly like “baked crust” that may very well be peeled off.
In a single tiny part, the volcanic rock has fractured in a means 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 well mistaken for a path to an exquisite new world. And in a means, that is not altogether flawed.
Following the brick highway is an indication we’re headed in the proper path and will quickly study a complete lot extra about Earth’s hidden geology.
You possibly can learn extra concerning the 2022 E/V Nautilus expedition right here.
An earlier model of this text was printed in Could 2022.
