The image of the sea floor that has sparked the most varied theories.
A series of photos published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States have raised a number of hypotheses about what is shown in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Is that scientists were amazed by a series of mysterious holes discovered this week on the ocean floor.
The images show the mysterious holes perfectly aligned in the sediment on the ocean floor.
NOAA posted photos of the underwater formations on Facebook and Twitter, where sea-savvy social media users speculated they could be anything, from “wormhole” to “aliens”.
“Ok Facebooker, time to get those scientist hats out!” This was stated by NOAA in a statement about the wells, which are located 2.6 kilometers below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, near the mid-Atlantic ridge. This remote region is the longest mountain range in the world, stretching 16,000 kilometers from north to south, reports the New York post.
“During the #Okeanos dive on Saturday, we saw many of these sublinear sets of holes in the sediment,” NOAA described the Atlantean-style drilling. “These holes have previously been reported in the region, but their origin remains a mystery.”
They added: “Even though they look almost man-made, the small mounds of sediment around the holes make them look as if they were dug out of … something.”
second account new york postthe scientists asked the oceanographers of the social network Facebook their “hypotheses”, which produced wonderful and extravagant theories.
Network theories
Many comments have suggested that the holes were created by some type of burrowing worm such as the “bobby worm”an inhabitant of the abyss who evokes the “Dunes” who buries himself in the sand or gravel and awaits his victims.
When prey, such as fish, pass by, the creature grabs them with its cartoon-like scissor-shaped jaws and drives them back to its lair at speeds of up to 20 feet per second. And then it leaves a hole where it just fed.
Scientists agreed that the wormhole theory was very plausible. “Many organisms (e.g. marine worms, burrowing crustaceans and sea cucumbers) move in and through the sediment and disturb it, often in regular patterns, this is called bioturbation (biological disturbance),” says Mike Elliott, estuary professor and Coastal Sciences from the University of Hull in the UK, speaking with the Daily mail.
“Some dig horizontally (like a mole) as they ingest the organic matter in the sediment and then the tunnel can collapse behind them, which would give the pattern you see,” said Mike Elliot.
However, he noted that if the mysterious creature were a worm, usually “you would see mounds of sediment spewed behind the animal, although those could be the areas where the tunnel did not collapse.”
The underwater holes were discovered near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater formation that is also the longest mountain range in the world, stretching 10,000 miles north to south across the Atlantic Ocean.
Others have speculated that the holes were created by crabs, with an armchair aquatic scientist writing, “A previously unknown species of crab that hides in rectangular holes and hunts in linear flocks, waiting for prey to fall into its clutches. “.
Another theory: bobbit worms, which use their long buried body to catch fish.
Professor Elliott explained that “physical drilling of the sediment from above (by a predator looking for prey in the sediment) could leave a regular pattern like this,” citing the sewing machine patterns left by the waders.
A Twitter user suggested that the aquatic anomaly could be a “piece of pipe perforated and laid on the bottom of the sea”although this is unlikely as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is largely unexplored by humans, according to NOAA.
Meanwhile, other deep-sea speculators attributed the formation to bags of gas. However, although the scientists explained that gas holes were definitely possible, they felt they would not leave such linear and equidistant patterns.
‘Gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide can build up in sediments and carbon dioxide infiltrations are common,’ said Professor Elliott. “These all leave pockmarks, but they are usually not as regular as these.”
Dr Chris Yesson, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology in London, said that animals are the possible builders of that unique path.
Meanwhile, other conspiracy theorists have argued that the holes may be of extraterrestrial origin in the style of submarine crop circles.
“I’m not saying they’re aliens, but they’re aliens,” joked one netizen in the now viral thread.
The NOAA question also generated many silly responses, with a Facebook wildcard writing that the holes were created by an “undersea transatlantic cable from the bottom of the sea (internet, old telephone cable, etc.)”.
Source: New York Post
Source: Clarin
