The nautilus is an exploration vessel dedicated to the study of the world's oceans, with the aim of finding new discoveries in the fields of geology, biology, maritime history, archaeology, physics and chemistry.
The nautilus is approximately 68 metres long and is equipped with a remotely operated submersible for exploring the ocean floor .
During its exploration of the ocean, the nautilus often provides real-time video and audio data via the internet and has become popular with ocean lovers worldwide as a result, and recently the exploration vessel has made a remarkable discovery.
Nautilus discovers a mysterious "Yellow brick road" At the bottom of the pacific ocean
In april 2022, the nautilus arrived at a marine reserve in the pacific ocean known as the papahanaumokuakea marine national monument, an area of approximately 1.5 million square kilometres in the north-western hawaiian islands (shown below).
As planned, the nautilus released the rov in an area called lili'uokalani ridge to study the rock formations on the seafloor and the life that lives in this area.
At first, everything seemed 'uneventful' as the researchers took samples of the rocks from the rov's robotic arm. After this, the researchers decided to continue the dive, and when the depth reached 1,029 metres, people's eyes grew wide open.
The picture above shows the image coming back from the rov. Does it look familiar to you? Yes, it looks like a yellow brick road that has been paved by hand.
We can clearly see that this "Yellow brick road" Seems to be made of a large number of "Bricks", which appear to be very regular in the whole, especially those "Bricks" And "Bricks" With each other. "The gaps between the bricks are perpendicular to each other.
If such a scene were to occur on land, almost anyone would assume that this would be a hand-paved yellow brick road, and that it would be very old.
The appearance of such a mysterious 'yellow brick road' at the bottom of the pacific ocean, at a depth of over 1,000 metres, has led to speculation that this is a relic of a prehistoric civilisation that has emerged. In fact, one of the crew of the nautilus said on live audio, "This is the road to atlantis."
"Atlantis is a legendary prehistoric civilisation that first appeared in the famous ancient greek philosopher plato's dialogues, and according to his description, was quite technologically advanced, but unfortunately, in 10,000 b.c., it was destroyed. "Atlantis was destroyed by a huge prehistoric flood and then sank deep into the sea.
However, even if this 'yellow brick road' was the remains of a prehistoric civilisation, it could not have been 'atlantis' because the legendary 'atlantis' was not in the pacific ocean, but in the atlantic ocean. So it could be argued that the crew member's words in the live audio were not carefully thought out.
But atlantis is not the only legendary prehistoric civilisation, so could this mysterious 'yellow brick road' be the remains of some other prehistoric civilisation? The initial explanation given by the nautilus research team is that it is a peculiar landform formed after a volcanic eruption under the sea and has nothing to do with prehistoric civilisations.
The researchers believe that the magma ejected from a submarine volcano would have solidified rapidly in seawater and formed volcanic rocks. As the magma flow continued to solidify and settle to the seabed, it would have been subjected to a combination of gravity, viscosity, inertial forces, heating and cooling stresses, which would have ruptured and eventually evolved into what we see now.
In plain english, the lava flow from a volcano under the sea would have formed a "Big rock" On the sea floor, but in the process, the "Big rock" Broke up due to the disturbance of "Thermal expansion and contraction" And other factors. In the process, the "Big rock" Broke up, so that it looked like a "Yellow brick road" Paved with bricks. As for the perpendicular gaps between the "Bricks", it is a coincidence that this is only a small area, and there are many irregularly shaped "Bricks" In this area. "There are also a number of irregularly shaped bricks in this area.
Of course, this is only a reasonable speculation, and the details of what is going on are yet to be explored further by scientists.