Scientists have discovered a brine pool beneath the Gulf of Mexico. The body of water may look enticing but it is definitely not the best place to swim in and go scuba diving.
Creatures who get into this underwater lake die. Biogeochemist Scott Wankel, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said that the brine pool called "Jacuzzi of Despair" is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, which is far warmer compared with the 39-degree temperature of the surrounding water. The warmth of the lake draws unsuspecting marine life such as crabs that look for food.
Wankel said that the creatures die, get pickled and get preserved when they fall in the warm but super salty underwater lake.
Located 3,300 feet underwater, the brine pool has water within its perimeters that is between four to five times saltier compared with the surrounding gulf. Underwater lakes have their own surface and shorelines. With their high salinity from salts that leach out of the seafloor, these bodies of water create a barrier to the water around it. Because the water is so dense it stays at the bottom, forming the lake underwater.
It was one of the most amazing things in the deep sea," said Erik Cordes from Temple University. "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 is part of the team that discovered the site and reported the findings in the journal Oceanography.
The salinity of the water in the newly discovered underwater lake creates a killer solution of toxic chemicals, which include hydrogen sulfide and methane gas.
Cordes and colleagues first discovered the formation two years ago using a remote-controlled underwater robot called Hercules. A year later, they returned with the three-person research sub Alvin to conduct more studies.
Using robot arms, the researchers were able to collect samples of dense gas and water in the pool, eventually finding samples of microbial life thriving in the lake. The researchers believe that these creatures, which have adapted to the high salinity and low levels of oxygen of the underwater lake, resemble life that thrive on other planets in the solar system.
Cordes said that said that pools such as this are rare. An underwater lake was also discovered in the Mediterranean in 2011 but it did not have a lively ecosystem.
