Jan Bartek – MessageToEagle.com – The discovery was completely unexpected. The crew on board the Norwegian research ship G.O. Sars sent an unmanned remotely operated underwater vehicle – an ROV – with a camera down to the seabed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere north of the Azores archipelago, and they noticed something was down there at the bottom of the ocean.
These photos were taken almost 2,100 metres under the surface of the ocean. (Photo: Vecchione & Bergstad, 2022)
Scientists say the tracks suddenly appeared on the screen below from a depth of around 2,000 meters. The nature of the holes remains a puzzle. Were they made by Mother Nature, some animals, or perhaps by an unknown ancient civilization? Could there be ancient underwater ruins in the region, some may ask?
Scientists confess they have no idea what made them, or how they came about, but there are some theories.
In their scientific paper, the research team writes that the “lengths of individual series ranged from < 1 m to many meters. Each was straight or gently curved. Some series intersected or crossed. Close examination of the holes showed them to be elongate, with the long axis parallel to the axis of the series.
The holes were ca. 6 × 1.5 cm, with distance between holes similar to hole length. The holes that appeared to be most recently formed were each surrounded by raised sediment. Holes that appeared older were partly filled with sediment and the raised surrounding sediment was less obvious.
Overall, these lebensspuren created small-scale heterogeneity in the local soft-bottom benthic ecosystem. The source of the holes or how they were constructed is unknown, but the raised sediment may indicate excavation by an infaunal organism or digging and removal by e.g., a feeding appendage of a large epifaunal animal. None of our closeups showed any sign of living organisms inhabiting the holes. Whether the holes were connected beneath the sediment surface was not visible.”
Odd Aksel Bergstad, who led the expedition at the time of the discovery, says he is almost convinced that there is no physical explanation behind the holes. “Most likely this is a track left by something alive,” he says.
“There has been a lot of discussion between researchers about what this could be. But we have not come to any definite conclusion,” Bergstad told Science in Norway.
Sediments, which have been thrown up next to several of the holes, can point in this direction.
An unknown animal
As reported by Science in Norway, “the marine scientist does not rule out that we are talking about a hitherto unknown animal.
“There are still a number of undescribed animals and other organisms in the deep sea,” Bergstad says. “Much is still poorly explained by science. We are also talking about huge ocean areas.”
More photos that were taken of the tracks in the deep sea. Notice how regular they are. (Photo: Vecchione & Bergstad, 2022)
The tracks you see pictures of have been set in soft seabed. This means that they are not fossil traces. The traces must be of an organism that still lives in the sea, Odd Aksel Bergstad believes.
Discovered the dinosaurs
Around 200 years ago, researchers began to take an interest in tracks found in solidified rock on land.
The tracks were often regular prints one after the other. They could look like footprints. Some were gigantic. Others were much smaller.
This is how researchers at the beginning of the 19th century came on the trail of both the dinosaurs and many other, then unknown, smaller animals that had lived a long time ago.
Only just beginning to explore the seabed
The exploration of the biological diversity on the vast seabed on Earth has only just begun.
Many new things can be found.
That traces of animals or other organisms have been found deep in the sea, is not new. Life that is initially unidentified.
The German word “Lebensspuren” – traces of life in English – was first used by German researchers in the 1970s, when the very first photographs from the deep sea showed traces of life, but that we didn’t know what it was.
Today, “Lebensspuren” is used by researchers as a collective term for traces, tracks and imprints of what we can assume are living organisms down in the sea.”
Perhaps future underwater explorations can provide scientists with more answers and illuminate how or what created these puzzling holes.
Written by Jan Bartek – MessageToEagle.com – AncientPages.com Staff Writer