Sunday Science Blog

Scientists have found a lake under the sea - those who swim there won't come back alive




Scientists have discovered a 'lake' in the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone, who enters this pool at the bottom of the sea will suffer horribly. Erik Cordes, associate professor of biology at Temple University, has researched the pool and described his findings in the journal Oceanography.

"It was one of the most amazing things in the deep sea. You go down into the bottom of the ocean and you are looking at a lake or a river flowing. It feels like you are not on this world", Cordes told Seeker. The water in the 'lake within the sea' is about five times as salty as the water surrounding it. It also contains highly toxic concentrations of methane and hydrogen sulphide and can thus not mix with the surrounding sea. For animals (and people) who swim into it, these toxic concentrations can be deadly. Only bacterial life, tube worms, and shrimp can survive those circumstances.


 For scientists, this lake is like a playground for their research. They can explore how certain organisms can survive in extreme habitats. "There's a lot of people looking at these extreme habitats on Earth as models for what we might discover when we go to other planets," Cordes told Seeker.