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Welcome to the Land of Oz? That’s what some scientists were left wondering when they discovered what appeared to be a yellow brick road on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Researchers at the Ocean Exploration Trust were very surprised when they spotted the “yellow brick road” under about a thousand meters of ocean water.
“It’s the road to Atlantis,” one researcher can be heard saying on the radio in an video of their discovery.
The road was found by the exploration vessel Nautilus, while on an expedition to a deep-sea ridge, just north of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, according to a recent article published by Science Alert.
“What may look like a ‘yellow brick road’ to the mythical city of Atlantis is really an example of ancient active volcanic geology!” the researchers wrote in the caption to a video of their unexpected find.
“Our Corps of Exploration have witnessed incredibly unique and fascinating geological formations while diving on the Lili’uokalani Ridge within Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
“At the summit of Nootka Seamount, the team spotted a ‘dried lake bed’ formation, now IDed as a fractured flow of hyaloclastite rock (a volcanic rock formed in high-energy eruptions where many rock fragments settle to the seabed).
“The unique 90-degree fractures are likely related to heating and cooling stress from multiple eruptions at this baked margin.
“Throughout the seamount chain, the team also sampled basalts coated with ferromanganese (iron-manganese) crusts from across different depths and oxygen saturations as well as an interesting-looking pumice rock that almost resembled a sponge.
“Our exploration of this never-before-surveyed area is helping researchers take a deeper look at life on and within the rocky slopes of these deep, ancient seamounts,” the researchers further explained.
“Scientists are studying the microbial communities residing within the ferromanganese crusts found over rock surfaces and how the characteristics of the crusts vary from region to region in ocean basins as well the microorganisms that live on and within them.
“These studies will help provide baseline information on the living communities of seamounts which can inform management and conservation measures.”