The Bottom of the Gulf of Mexico Is Far Stranger Than Scientists Expected

Thousands of feet beneath the Gulf of Mexico, scientists have discovered an underwater world that looks almost impossible.

Brine pools form lakes on the seafloor. Methane bubbles rise from cold seeps. Ice-like gas hydrates trap natural gas beneath the sediment. Natural asphalt formations spread across the bottom, while submarine sinkholes, mud volcanoes and deep-sea ecosystems survive in complete darkness.

In this video, DiscoverTube investigates some of the strangest discoveries ever found beneath the Gulf of Mexico.

We explore underwater lakes more than 4,000 feet deep, a brine waterfall, methane-powered ecosystems, 200-year-old tubeworms, frozen methane, the mysterious Tar Lily asphalt formation, Florida’s blue holes, giant buried salt structures, deep-sea coral communities, underwater avalanches and the Sigsbee Deep more than 12,000 feet below sea level.

Many of these discoveries are connected by the same hidden geological system. Ancient salt moves beneath the sediments, faults open pathways, oil and methane migrate upward, and strange ecosystems grow around the chemicals escaping from deep underground.

The surface of the Gulf may look calm.

But thousands of feet below it lies an entirely different world.

Subscribe to DiscoverTube for more investigations into hidden geology, deep oceans, extreme environments and the discoveries scientists are still making beneath America.

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