Alien environment found in Gulf of Mexico dubbed as 'Jacuzzi of Despair'

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Nov 15, 2016 11:23 AM EST

Just recently, an exploration team of scientists explored the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and found a new discovery. A brine pool, a salt water-dense lake beneath the floor. It is said to have a five times greater salinity than the surrounding oceans and even hotter than its surrounding seawater.

Nautilus (E/V), an exploration rover, came across a brine pool 3,300 feet below the Gulf of Mexico. It was discovered the brine has a circumference of approximately 100 feet and 12 feet deep. A massive living mat of bacteria and salt deposits; giant mussels, shrimps and tubeworms are seen in the surroundings as well as carcasses of deep sea creatures.

The crew of the Nautilus rover labeled the brine as the "jacuzzi of despair" after they have seen and observed the site. 65 degrees Fahrenheit full of toxic methane and hydrogen sulfide that does not mix with the seawater, this sea jacuzzi marks a burial ground for many forms of sea life. Creatures who ventured into this brine hole, dies in a few minutes' time.

"Because of the warm temperature of the brine, unsuspecting marine creatures are drawn to it." Scott Wankel, a biochemist of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said. He also added, "because of the high salinity, when the creatures fall and die, they get pickled and preserve."

This alien type of environment was also being described by Erik Cordes, an associate professor of Biology at Temple University who discovered the site in the Gulf of Mexico. Cordes said that the "jacuzzi of despair" is one of the most amazing things in the deep sea. He also said, "when you go down into the bottom of ocean and you are looking at a lake or a river flowing, it feels like you are not in this world."

The Gulf of Mexico is located 25.68 north and -89.89 west of the United States of America, with a surface of 600,000 square miles and a width of 1000 miles. The Gulf is also ideal for an oil platform, since it has a huge amount of fossil deposits in the area that contributed 15% of the oil supply in the United States.

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