A group of marine scientists discovered a yellow brick road at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The crew of the Exploration Vessel Nautilus spotted the strange-looking structure while exploring an area called Liliʻuokalani Ridge in the United States’ Papahānaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean, according to a YouTube video.
Footage from the expedition showed the path which appeared to be paved with cobblestones. The researchers are heard describing it as “bizarre” and “the road to Atlantis”.
Ancient active volcanic geography
The goal of the marine scientists was to look into a split in the seamount trail. The origins of thousands of seamounts in the central and western Pacific oceans are unknown. As a result, they documented their findings live, including the discovery of what appears to be a man-made brick road with distinctive rectangular blocks.
The team explained that the formation is actually “an example of ancient active volcanic geography”.
“At the summit of Nootka Seamount, the team spotted a ‘dried lake bed’ formation, now ID’d as a fractured flow of hyaloclastite rock – a volcanic rock formed in high-energy eruptions where many rock fragments settle to the seabed,” the caption of the YouTube post read.
The “unique” pattern of fractures in the rock that gives it its cobbled structure is likely the product of repeated heating and cooling over time owing to many volcanic eruptions, according to the experts.
