00:00So, a mysterious discovery was made deep in the Red Sea – the so-called Death Pools.
00:06That's scary.
00:07In 2020, researchers embarked on a dive into the Red Sea.
00:11The mission spot was in the Gulf of Aqaba, between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
00:16Near the end of their expedition, as they ventured deeper into the darkening waters,
00:21they noticed some strange seaweed floating above the seafloor.
00:25They decided to use a remotely operated vehicle and investigate it.
00:29Suddenly, they discovered these strange, motionless lakes of water within the sea.
00:37These are called brine pools.
00:38They're basically pockets of salty water deep on the ocean floor.
00:42And when I say salty, I mean it.
00:45Sometimes they're up to 8 times saltier than the ocean water itself.
00:49Mysteriously, they don't mix well with the surroundings.
00:52They formed millions of years ago, sometime during the Miocene Epoch, back when weird
00:57creatures roamed the Earth, like me, and deeply buried mineral deposits dissolved into
01:02the water.
01:03The largest pool spans about 170,000 square feet.
01:07Meanwhile, three smaller ones are under 107 square feet each.
01:12At first, this discovery didn't seem that scary.
01:15But here's why they're so horrifying.
01:17Not only are they disgustingly salty, they also lack oxygen.
01:22Now hold on a sec, isn't that normal for something that's underwater?
01:26Well, it turns out, the Earth's waters are full of oxygen, and at least half of this
01:31element on our planet comes from the oceans.
01:34Just like plants on land, marine plants, such as phytoplankton, seaweed, and algae, munch
01:40on sunlight and produce oxygen through photosynthesis.
01:43They release lots of it into the surroundings.
01:46Marine life then eats half of it, so only about a quarter of the oxygen that we breathe
01:51actually comes from the oceans.
01:53Just like us, sea creatures need this element to survive.
01:56Without it, they can't breathe and support their metabolism to live.
02:00That's why these pools are super dangerous for most of them.
02:03It's like a puddle of thick syrup for bugs.
02:05When they get in, the poor things immediately suffocate and pass away.
02:10Which is why the pools are surrounded by a graveyard of marine animals.
02:14But let's see how these things can exist in the first place.
02:18Have you ever tried making ice cubes from salty water?
02:21Spoiler, it's pretty hard.
02:23When you add salt, the water gets harder than usual to freeze.
02:26A phenomenon that has a funny name – freezing point depression.
02:30That's because salt interferes with the hydrogen bonds between water molecules.
02:36As it finally freezes, stuff like particles, dirt, or dissolved salts get pushed out to
02:41the sides.
02:42As a result, the salts kind of squeezed out of the ice crystals and get trapped near the
02:47edges in small bubbles or pockets.
02:50Something similar happens in the ocean, when seawater starts freezing under super-cold
02:55polar caps.
02:56The salt doesn't freeze with the water.
02:58Instead, it gets pushed out, forming a super-salty cold liquid – the brine.
03:03And then it sinks down to the ocean floor.
03:06On a large scale, all this process also helps currents to form.
03:10Despite being so dangerous, the pools are still full of microbial life.
03:15Because microbes couldn't care less – they'll survive anywhere.
03:18There are literally thick mats of them in the brines.
03:21There are also some salt-loving creatures, like shrimps and eels, hovering around the
03:26pool's edges.
03:27They're being super-creepy, waiting to catch unsuspecting prey that ventures too close
03:32to the toxic death pool.
03:35It sounds icky, I know, but this discovery gives us some fascinating insights into how
03:39life might've originated on Earth.
03:42We already know from the evolution theory that we came from the ocean, but now scientists
03:47think that life might've begun in the deep sea in some super-dark, oxygen-free places.
03:53These brine pools are like time capsules – they're one of the closest things we've found to
03:58the early Earth.
03:59They can tell us the planet's history of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and more.
04:03For example, they have some traces of rainfall that happened over a thousand years ago.
04:09And they can also help us search for life on other water-rich planets.
04:13For example, Mars most likely used to have huge oceans on it.
04:17Now NASA scientists want to send a special instrument called HABIT for a special red
04:22planet mission to study things similar to our brine pools.
04:26This will tell us more about how life appears and survives in the universe.
04:32There is lots of unexplored fascinating stuff like this in the Red Sea.
04:36That's why scientists conducted the so-called Decade Expedition and spent around 5 months
04:41exploring the place.
04:43This expedition was launched by the National Center for Wildlife.
04:46They made so many remarkable discoveries that now we've got 77 new research papers.
04:52For example, they found over 10 blue holes – incredible underwater sinkholes that host
04:58unique ecosystems.
05:00They also learned that dolphins can use those blue holes to protect their young from predators.
05:05Scientists also found traces of great white sharks – a creepy community of deep-sea
05:10lanternfish living in low-oxygen conditions, and even a new coral species.
05:15It's the most resilient deep-sea corals that also vibe just fine without oxygen, like
05:21microbes we mentioned.
05:23Speaking of which, research also showed us some new ancient thermal vents and large blobs
05:29of microbial formations near Farasand Island.
05:33Now can you believe that with all that, we only explored 5% of the ocean?
05:38It's divided into several layers based on depth.
05:41Each layer becomes darker and more isolated from sunlight as we go deeper.
05:46The places that no sunlight can reach are terrifying.
05:49Now the fun, cute layer with dolphins and turtles is called the epipelagic, or sunlight
05:55zone.
05:56It's so tiny, but even this layer is about 650 feet deep.
06:01Then we have the mesopelagic, or twilight zone.
06:04It's the layer of mysterious octopus, shark, and other loners which extend to about 3,000
06:10feet down.
06:11And then the horrors begin after this one.
06:14We encounter the bathypelagic, or midnight zone.
06:18It extends to 13,000 feet below the surface, about a half of Everest above you.
06:23Here we have the famous poor blobfish, squids, and anglerfish.
06:29Below it is the abyssal zone.
06:32It extends to about 20,000 feet deep.
06:35Since there's not much sunlight or oxygen, as we mentioned, most creatures here are quite
06:39small like tubeworms and shrimp.
06:42The darkness continues until we arrive at the scariest place of the planet.
06:47The place full of trenches, formed by tectonic plate movements.
06:50The hadal zone.
06:51It's named after Hades, the deity of the underworld in Greek mythology.
06:56Just like Hades' realm is dark, remote, and guarded, the hadal zone is the deepest
07:01and most depressing part of the ocean.
07:03It starts at depths of around 20,000 feet and can go down to 36,000 feet and more.
07:09The famous Mariana Trench also belongs to this zone.
07:13Only 3 people in history have ever explored these depths in person, making it one of the
07:18least explored and most mysterious places on our planet.
07:22However, despite crazy high pressure, near freezing temperatures, and complete darkness,
07:27there are still things who manage to survive here.
07:30Things like amphipods, which are critters who feed on dead material sinking from above,
07:36and the hadal snailfish, which lives as deep as 27,000 feet.
07:41So scientists used to assume that if there's no sunlight, there wouldn't be that much
07:45oxygen around.
07:46But one day, a research team decided to measure the levels of oxygen in one of those deep
07:51zones.
07:52Surprisingly, the levels were super high.
07:55They checked the equipment, thinking that it was malfunctioning.
07:58Nope, all the sensors showed the same thing.
08:01Turns out the oxygen was somehow generated by rocks.
08:06These small potato-sized rocks on the seafloor are called polymetallic nodules.
08:10They're rich in metals like copper, nickel, and cobalt.
08:14And they're basically like small batteries.
08:17When you put a battery in salt water, it can produce bubbles of gas, a process called electrolysis.
08:23In the same way, these rocks create tiny electric currents, which are powerful enough to produce
08:28the same gases, splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
08:32It's the first time we saw oxygen being produced by some non-living minerals.
08:38This is what scientists now call dark oxygen.
08:41It turned out that about half of large marine species, or megafauna, were living just on
08:46dark oxygen alone.
08:48All these discoveries are reshaping our understanding of where and how life could evolve.
08:54That means that we might be able to find life on other planets or satellites with low
08:58oxygen conditions.
09:00Like in Satellus and Europa, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and they have large bodies
09:04of frozen water on them.
09:07Wow!
09:08That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
09:13and share it with your friends!
09:14Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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