In honor of Earth Day, we invite you to relax with these stunning scenes miles below the ocean’s surface. The landscape of the deep sea is ever-changing, with views that rival the sublime beauty found at our national parks and monuments on land. Canyons have sediment tumbling down their steep walls, tectonic plates move against each other, causing underwater earthquakes, and volcanoes erupt with flowing lava. The most prolific volcanic systems on Earth are hidden beneath the ocean’s depths. Scientists have estimated that there could be more than one million submarine volcanoes around the world. Volcanic eruptions result in a remarkable variety of formations as molten lava hardens at various speeds in cold seawater to form spectacular features like bulbous pillows, hollow domes and channels, jagged pillars, and folding sheets.
Although the entire ocean crust was created this way, it is exciting and rare-even for deep-sea geologists-to observe this breathtaking scenery. Less than ten percent of the seafloor has been mapped at the same level of detail as the Moon and Mars. MBARI’s mission is to advance marine science and technology to understand our changing ocean-from the surface to the seafloor. For more than three decades, we’ve explored the deep ocean, recording thousands of hours of video with our remotely operated vehicles and mapping thousands of kilometers of seafloor using advanced mapping vehicles. Together, these tools are helping to create a clearer picture of the uncharted ocean frontier.
Learn more about how MBARI uses cutting-edge technologies to gain unprecedented access to the deep seafloor: www.mbari.org/focus-area/seaf...
Video producer/editor: Kristine Walz
Production team: Kyra Schlining, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan von Thun
Music: Absolute Calmness by Daniil Davydov (Motion Array)
Geological feature in order of appearance:
Note: The red dots are lasers 29 cm (11.4 inches) apart used for measurement.
0:00 Lava drainback | 1,667 meters (5,469 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
0:19 Lava channel | 1,570 meters (5,150 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
0:34 Collapsed pit and lava pillars | 1,570 meters (5,150 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
0:45 Collapse pit and lava pillars | 1,570 meters (5,150 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
0:55 Fissure | 1,767 meters (5,797 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
1:12 Ropy folded flow | 2,298 meters (7,539 feet) | Alarcón Rise, southern Gulf of California
1:26 Lavacicles | 1,712 meters (5.616 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
1:45 Lava pond | 2,142 meters (7,027 feet) | Endeavor Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge
2:06 Lava whorls | 1,574 meters (5,164 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
2:31 Lava pond | 1,528 meters (5,013 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
2:55 Pillow lavas | 2,073 meters (6.,801 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
3:21 Close up pillow lava | 2,073 meters (6,801 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
3:31 Ropy flow | 1,715 meters (5,627 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
3:48 Drainback | 1,528 meters (5,013 feet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
4:04 Hornito | 2,088 meters (6,850 fet) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
4:19 Large drainback | 1,853 meters (6,079 meters) | Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge
4:33 Lava pillar | 2,327 meters (7,634 meters | Alarcón Rise, southern Gulf of California