A research team diving in the submersible Alvin 215 miles off the coast of Louisiana has discovered an undersea stream of super-salty water that feeds into a brine lake covering some 20,000 acres on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to scientists returning from the voyage.
Composed of super-saturated water seven times saltier than sea water, the subsea river was found at depths between 6,400 and 7,700 feet.The river flows down Louisiana's continental slope and collects in a depression called the Orca Basin.
"It looks like you're looking at a little stream, but it's really liquid flowing through liquid. It's weird," said Charles Fisher of the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The river and lake get their salt from an exposed salt dome - the solidified remnant of an ancient sea that dried up and was covered by later sediments. The salt dome pokes through the continental slope. The super-salty water is denser than the surrounding sea water and so rests on the ocean bottom, something like vinegar separated from oil.
No life lives in the brine lake, but bacteria or other organisms might be living in the salty rivers.
The work was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. - William Booth