An expedition to a deep-sea ridge, simply north of the Hawaiian Islands, has revealed an historical dried-out lake mattress paved with what appears to be like like a yellow brick street.
The eerie scene was chanced upon by the exploration vessel Nautilus earlier this 12 months, whereas surveying the Liliʻuokalani ridge inside Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nationwide Monument (PMNM).
PMNM is without doubt one of the largest marine conservation areas on the planet, bigger than all of the nationwide parks in the US 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 beneath 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 captures the second researchers working the deep-sea car stumbled upon the street to Oz.
“It is the street to Atlantis,” a researcher on the radio could be heard exclaiming.
“The yellow brick street?” one other voice countered.
“That is weird,” added one other member of the group.
“Are you kidding me? That is loopy.”
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Regardless of being positioned underneath a few thousand meters of ocean, the lake mattress found by researchers on the summit of the Nootka seamount appears to be like surprisingly dry.
On the radio, the group notes that the bottom appears to be like virtually like “baked crust” that might be peeled off.
In a single tiny part, the volcanic rock has fractured in a method that appears strikingly much like bricks.
“The distinctive 90-degree fractures are possible associated to heating and cooling stress from a number of eruptions at this baked margin,” reads a caption to the YouTube video.
At first look, the impact is well mistaken for a path to a beautiful new world. And in a method, that is not altogether incorrect.
Following the brick street is an indication we’re headed in the correct 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.
A model of this text was first printed in Could 2022.