Scientists have discovered a huge underwater mountain that’s more than four times as tall as the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa.
Oceanographers at California’s Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered the new mountain recently and mapped it. It was located about 900 miles off Chile’s coast in the Pacific Ocean. Its seamount measures 1.9 miles (or 3,109 meters) tall, and it’s part of a mountain range underwater that calls sponge gardens, rare species of marine animals and ancient corals home.
The oceanographers even discovered a type of squid that they were able to film for the first time in history.
The team explored the region with a research vessel called a R/V Falkor. It was on an expedition that lasted 28 days. The ship had a sonar system installed under its hull, and that’s what the researchers used to map the mountain.
The executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, Jyotika Virmani, explained how this works. He said:
“Sound waves go down and they bounce back off the surface, and we measure the time it takes to come back and get measured. From that, we get a really good idea (of the seabed topography).
“It’s important because at the moment only about 26% of the seafloor has been mapped to this kind of resolution. And the seafloor covers 71% of our planet’s surface.”
Many oceanographers have estimated that there are at least 100,000 mountains underwater that would measure higher than 1,000 meters, which is equivalent to 3,280 feet. These mountains would provide very important habitats for a wide range of marine species.
The most recent mountain that was mapped by these oceanographers is higher than Greece’s Mount Olympus, which measures 2,917 meters high. It’s a little shorter than Mount Fuji in Japan, which measures 3,776 meters high.
It’s also more than four times as high as the highest skyscraper in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which measures 830 meters high.
The researchers found an environment that was rich in biodiversity when they explored one of the ridges of the mountain, which they did with an underwater robot.
One such marine creature is called a white Casper octopus. It’s the first time ever that this cephalopod, which dwells deep underwater, has been viewed in the southern Pacific Ocean.
The researchers also saw two very rare Bathyphysa siphonophores, which are referred to as flying spaghetti monsters because they look like spaghetti strings.
As Virami said:
“The (Casper) octopus has never been captured, so it doesn’t actually have a scientific name yet.”
The researchers also became the first team to record live footage of a Promachoteuthis squid. Humans only know about this marine species because of a few specimens that have been collected in prior underwater explorations.
This is the third time this year that the researchers explored the Nazca Ridge, which is located in international waters.
A new UN treaty that was adopted last year, and is still being ratified by member states, could see this region become the first marine protected area in the high seas, Virmani explained.
