Atlantis Discovered?

Boat/US Magazine, May, 2001

There may be nothing new under the sun, but under the sea, it's a different story. Oceanographers in a miniature research submarine have stumbled upon giant hydrothermal vents and towering spires 3,200 feet under the mid-Atlantic, and have dubbed it the "Lost City." Hydrothermal vents result from undersea cracks in the earth's crust, which allow lava and hot fluids to seep out. Mineral formations build up around the cracks creating "chimneys" on the ocean floor. The expedition included scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Duke University and University of Washington.

Vents in the "Lost City" tower to 180 feet and cover an area the size of a football field. They rest on a million-year-old piece of Earth's crust at the base of a 14,000-foot submerged mountain in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. What has scientists so excited is that usually hydrothermal vents occur on much younger crusts. DNA samples taken from microbes and fluids collected in the "Lost City" are being analyzed and should be floating some answers soon.

To see images of these unusual structures, visit the National Science Foundation's Web site at www.nsf.gov, or Scripps Institution of Oceanography at www.sio.ucsd.edu/scripps_news/.>

COPYRIGHT 2001 Boat Owners Association

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group