The earth seems to have no secrets at this point. That if we talk about the earth’s part, of course, because although we are putting the batteries with the oceanic background, much remains to be known. And one of the examples is the lost city found in 2000, a set of structures in the middle of the Atlantic that are not only curious, but also help us with the most unexpected: study extraterrestrial ecosystems.
And, ultimately, determine the clues that must be followed to find life in the universe.
Single. More than 700 meters deep west of the Mesoatlántica dorsal, on December 4, 2000, some explorers under the command of remote control submersibles, found something surprising: a set of walls and monoliths that reached 60 meters high and that They had a curious bluish tone due to the foci of the submarines.
These carbonated structures were something that the scientific community had never seen and was baptized as the ‘lost city’. Among that we love giving rimbombant names and that could resemble Atlantis, the marketing part was already made.
Chimneys. The full name is, really, ‘Hydrothermal field of the lost city’, and it is the oldest oceanic ventilation site, at least what we know. It is estimated that he is about 120,000 years old and, during all that time, his chimneys have been expelling gases at temperatures between 40 and 90 degrees Celsius.
These hydrothermal vents release methane and hydrogen, but are not volcanic, so they do not produce co₂, hydrogen sulfide or metals. With the passage of the millennia, that expelled material was accumulated in the form of columns and walls of Brucita, Aragonito and Carbonate of calcium, with a whitish color and very particular schegic texture.
Point of interest. For the scientific community, the lost city is a mine. Its particular environment and the conditions of its formation, as well as its age, can provide clues about the origin of life on Earth, as well as a more detailed vision of the planet’s composition.
Over the years their materials have been studying and, in 2024, a group of scientists announced the recovery of a rock sample more than a meter long. With her, they hope to find crucial evidence about the origin of life on earth.
There are some spectacular formations. Researchers at the University of Washington described some vents as structures that “cry” fluids that form carbonated structures of multiple tips as curious as the one we see in the photo that we leave just on these lines. But there are not only rocks in the lost city.
Extraterrestrials. At that depth, without oxygen, with a highly alkaline and hydrogen, methane and other gases dissolved in water, we might think that it is a ‘lunar’ ecosystem in which life is impossible. Interestingly, it is full of animals such as anemones, microbial communities, crustaceans, snails and, occasionally, depth fish.
The question is how life can prosper when it comes to an environment in which there is no sunlight, there is no oxygen and both hydrogen and methane, they camp their wide. That is precisely what also caught the attention of the researchers because the study of this fact can give us clues about what kind of life or signs of life to look for in environments that can be similar, such as encumbered or Europe (Saturn and Jupiter moons) .
Threatened heritage. Writing this has given me ‘Avatar’ not only because the film has attractive extraterrestrial structures, but because its director, James Cameron, is passionate about underwater expeditions. And something that happens in his film is that we arrive at another planet and sweep it to get resources. We must not go to Pandora -the planet of ‘avatar’-, we continue to see it in areas such as the Amazon. And that we destroy the lost city is something that researchers fear.
Poland achieved in 2018 the exploitation rights of the seabed around the lost city and, although the hydrothermal field has no valuable resources for us, altering its surroundings could endanger the entire area. That is why it is working so that the lost city is declared a World Heritage Site with the aim of protecting it as much as possible and being able to continue studying it.
We will see what happens with an area that is not the only hydrothermal field in the world, but one whose particularities can help understand how life develops in extreme conditions and in similar extraterrestrial environments.
Images | Cairns S, Kitahara M
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