Experts believe that the environment of the Lost City will help us understand more about ecosystems elsewhere in the universe
It’s quite baffling that we’ve only explored five percent of our oceans so far, as people continue to remain fascinated in what really lies beneath the water.
Myths about what goes on under the sea still plays on the mind of the more imaginative people, with underwater cities like Atlantis still believed by some to be out there somewhere.
However, scientists have recently stumbled upon a ‘lost city’ in the Atlantic Ocean that is actually home to several sea animals and probably has its own Sebastian Crab – somewhere.
A lost underwater city has been discovered (Open Ocean Exploration)
This Lost City consists of some rocky, towering structures that are just west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge mountain range – which runs along the middle of the Atlantic ocean, separating the North American plate from the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate.
There are huge walls in the city, as well as columns and even monoliths, with some over 60 metres tall.
Sadly fantasy fans, it isn’t the site of an ancient human civilisation that was covered by a rising sea level, but its discovery is still noteworthy in the world of science.
It’s actually been named the ‘Lost City’ following its discovery back in 2000, and according to Science Alert, it is the longest living venting environment in the ocean, to our knowledge.
The environment was only discovered 24 years ago (Open Ocean Exploration)
There is nothing else like it on our planet, as it’s believed that it could give us an insight into other ecosystems that exist on other planets in the universe.
Snails and microbial communities have survived here by feeding off the field’s vents, which let out hydrogen, methane and other various gases into the water.
Oxygen is absent here, but larger animals can also survive in the Lost City, with the likes of crabs (I told you Sebastian was here), eels and shrimps, though they are harder to find.
Unlike other places, hydrocarbons produced here are not created by sunlight, sitting 750-900 metres below the water and therefore being on the verge of the ‘midnight zone’, where no light reaches (at around 1,000 metres).
Instead, it relies on chemical reactions that happen on the seabed, while this could give us an insight to how life on our planet originated 3.7 billion years ago as well.
It can be found along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (Open Ocean Exploration)
Microbiologist William Brazelton claimed to The Smithsonian back in 2018: “This is an example of a type of ecosystem that could be active on Enceladus or Europa (moons of Saturn and Jupiter) right this second. And maybe Mars in the past.”
In honour of Greek mythology, the tallest monolith in the Lost City has been named Poseidon, after the Greek God of the sea.
There have been calls to make the Lost City a World Heritage site to protect the rare site, as humans can’t help themselves to destroying the environment, but it may be too late.
Poland won the rights to mind the deep sea around the area back in 2018, but though they are not allowed to touch the Lost City, changing its surroundings could have dire consequences.
Featured Image Credit: Open Ocean Exploration
