Black Hole in the Sea: Underwater lake that kills everything in it

Under the sea, in the mysterious unknown that inhabits the darkness separating us from the earth’s crust. It isn’t just home to the bottom feeders of the ocean, it also conceals some puzzling phenomenon, asides SpongeBob and the Krusty Krab. Among its vastness and beauty (much of which doesn’t care about your sweet, precious organism needs), lies some interesting science and a bottomless jacuzzi that will probably kill you. So, who’s up for an adventure?

The Jacuzzi of despair

Nearly 3,300 feet (1,006 meters) below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, is a circular pool, an underwater lake, 100 feet in circumference and 12 feet deep, discovered by a team of researchers. It is a deadly hot tub dubbed “the jacuzzi of despair”, with surrounding walls holding in a toxic mix of dense extra-salty brine tinged with methane gas and hydrogen sulfide. These underwater lakes left behind salt beds. With time, the salt layers became submerged and buried. Their weight caused the salt layers to shift and crack the shale above, causing oil and gas trapped in the shale to escape and the sea water to enter and mix with the sediments. Resulting in a super-salty brine so dense and viscous that it doesn't easily mix with the seawater around it. The researchers who were observing the lake in a Human Occupied Vehicle known as Alvin, described it as being with brine so dense they could land the sub on top of it.

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The salinity of the water is four to five times higher than its surroundings, and is brewed by the methane and hydrogen sulfide that seeps from its floor. With almost no oxygen, it makes for a toxic environment for any ocean life that unwittingly enters the water. Curious creatures that happen to wander in don’t make it out alive and the carcasses of such unlucky creatures are preserved by the brine for decades. The overflowing lake water acts like any body of water on land, with a shoreline and breaking up into waves which ripple over the top if the surface is disturbed, forming waterfalls with cascading tiny crates at its border. The lake appears to also be connected to what looks like a brine river that flows over the ocean bed.

How deep the pool is

Measuring the pool's salinity, temperature and depth, the researchers lowered a sensor down into the pool. From the lake's surface to a depth of about 10 feet, the brine was a relatively warm 46 °F (7.8 °C). At that depth, the Gulf of Mexico is about 40 °F. As the sensor sank deeper, the temperature rose further to 66 °F (19 °C), much warmer than the 39 degrees F (3.8 °C) of the surrounding waters. The probe plunged more than 62 feet into the pool, even though it never reached the bottom. Although deadly to any sea life that might found in it, the Jacuzzi of Despair has a beautiful shoreline lined with lacy yellow and red mineral deposits. The edges which measure about 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter, rising 12 feet (3.7 meters) off the bottom of the ocean, is teeming with life with beds of mussels in a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria in their gills which make energy by converting the dissolved gases (methane and hydrogen sulfide) seeping from the ocean.

Life under the pool

While rare, brine pools like this have been found before, none have been seen with such a rich ecosystem living on the edges. With specially adapted shrimp and tube worms alongside the mussels, samples of microbial life that can survive the high salinity and low oxygen levels of the brine pool were also collected from the pool. This cauldron of dense salty water and methane proves lethal for most, but the organisms that survive could resemble life on other planets. The Jacuzzi of Despair isn't the only brine pool out there, forming in oceans all over the world.

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The seafloor is vastly under-explored, and it is an established fact that we know far more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own ocean. We still have a whole lot to learn about the seafloor, the exciting perspectives on how life has adapted to these extreme environments, and how life persists under such conditions. So, on your next exotic holiday getaway, ensure to swing by the ocean bed in Gulf of Mexico, you just might be in for a treat.

Grab a krabby patty while you are at it.

References

Explore the 'Hot Tub of Despair,' an underwater lake that kills almost everything inside

How this 'Jacuzzi of Despair' formed beneath the Gulf of Mexico

Brine Pool: Hot Tub of Despair

Super-Salty Murderous “Deadpool” Lurks At The Bottom Of The Gulf Of Mexico

Probing the Undersea Dead Zone Known as the Hot Tub of Despair

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