Dead Sea floor craters teeming with life
September 30th, 2011 - 5:53 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Sep 30 (IANS) Scientists have found giant craters at the bottom of the Dead Sea, teeming with bug infested fresh water.
The Dead Sea, which lies on the border of Jordan and Israel, owes its barrenness to dense salt levels. The presence of seabed craters has long been suspected. Now divers have confirmed that there are 30 of them at depths of around 100 feet on the seabed.
They were first discovered in 2010 by a diving expedition from the Max Planck Institute in Germany which measured their widths between 33 feet and 43 feet, the Daily Mail reports.
Team member Danny Ionescu said they were a “fantastic hot spot for life”. The Dead Sea is extremely murky, with the divers needing to feel for drops on the seafloor to locate the craters.
Ionescu added: “When you put your head in (a crater) you cannot see anything - you have to have faith and will to explore.”
He reported very powerful plumes of clear water rising upwards, with the craters containing the same diversity of microscopic life that can be found on rocks in normal sea conditions.
- Unknown species unravelled in Antarctica's hot springs - Jan 04, 2012
- Germany makes micro-miniature steam engine - Dec 14, 2011
- Angler hooks scuba diver instead of fish - Aug 19, 2011
- Naval divers set national deep sea diving record (With image) - Feb 16, 2011
- Underwater robot to collect information about Deepwater Horizon spill - May 30, 2010
- Chandigarh brothers become youngest sea-divers - Apr 22, 2011
- Why Is Sameera Reddy Staying Under Water For Long? - Nov 23, 2010
- Navy Divers set national record for deep diving - Feb 17, 2011
- No dead dolphins found in Black Sea: Russia - May 18, 2011
- 1,500 World War II-era shells found in US - Oct 25, 2010
- 15 tonnes of waste collected from UAE seabed - Apr 30, 2012
- China submersible to attempt 7,000-meter dive - Jun 03, 2012
- Chinese submersible to try 7,000-meter dive - Mar 04, 2012
- Underwater asphalt volcanoes discovered in the Pacific Ocean - Apr 27, 2010
- Unknown Man Pulls Shark's Tail to Save Woman in Australia - Nov 02, 2010
Tags: barrenness, clear water, daily mail, dead sea, diversity, fresh water, giant craters, hot spot, ionescu, mail reports, max planck, max planck institute, microscopic life, plumes, rocks, scientists, sea conditions, sea floor, seafloor, team member