An expedition to a deep-sea ridge just north of the Hawaiian Islands discovered an ancient dried-out lake bed with what appears to be a yellow brick path.
A brief about Scientists Discover a ‘Yellow Brick Road’ in a Never-Before-Seen Pacific Ocean Spot
The frightening image was discovered earlier this year by the exploration vessel Nautilus while studying the Liliuokalani ridge within Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument (PMNM).
PMNM is one of the world’s largest marine conservation zones, larger than all of the United States national parks combined, and we’ve only visited around 3% of its seafloor.
The Ocean Expedition Trust’s researchers are pushing the boundaries of this wilderness, which lies more than 3,000 meters beneath the seas, and the greatest thing is that everyone can witness the exploration.
The moment researchers operating the deep-sea vehicle stumbled onto the road to Oz is captured in a highlight reel of the expedition’s film broadcast on YouTube in April 2022.
“It’s the road to Atlantis,” a researcher on the radio exclaims.
“The yellow brick road?” another person objected.
“This is bizarre,” said another team member.
“Are you kidding me? This is crazy.”
Despite being submerged beneath a thousand meters of water, the lake bed uncovered by researchers on the summit of the Nootka seamount appears remarkably dry.
The team mentions over the radio that the earth resembles a “baked crust” that could be peeled off.
The volcanic rock has split into one little section in a way that resembles bricks.
“The distinctive 90-degree fractures are likely attributable to heating and cooling stress from many eruptions at this baked boundary,” according to the video’s caption.
At first glance, the effect could be mistaken for a portal to a fantastic new universe. In some ways, that’s not entirely incorrect.
Following the brick road indicates that we are on the correct track and will soon discover a lot more about Earth’s hidden geology.
According to the EVNautilus channel, the team has never surveyed the area previously. They are now looking more closely at life on and within the stony slopes of the ancient seamounts.
