Weird Holes on Ocean Floor Found During Deep Sea Voyage, Social Media Cries 'Aliens'

Despite being 2,540 meters below the surface, several weird holes on the ocean floor that appear to be human-made have been found by ocean scientists. The holes were found on dive number four of the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which aims to collect information on uncharted deepwater areas of the Atlantic Ocean like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Some social media comments suggest the weird holes are made by aliens.

Photos demonstrate how the holes are positioned in a straight line and seem to be spaced equally apart.

The holes' other distinguishing feature is that they all seem to be surrounded by tiny piles of sediment, which suggests they had been dug.

The NOAA scientists were so perplexed that they turned to social media to see if any potential theories could be put forth by the public.

Social Media Responses

A Facebook user believes the gas leak was caused by a small surface crack. In jest, a different Facebook user claimed that it was a starfish performing cartwheels.

Another Facebook user speculated that the problem might have been caused by an alien craft or an underwater craft that was probably looking for something illegal under the sand.

In a news release, the NOAA stated that they received a variety of responses, including reports of aliens, an unidentified species of crab, gas rising from the seafloor, and more.

Not for the first time have holes like this been found. In July 2004, while diving near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, they discovered a similar phenomenon at a depth of about 6,800 feet.

 At that time, two marine biologists-Michael Vecchione from the US National Marine Fisheries Service together with Odd Aksel Bergstad from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research-proposed the hypothesis that an organism living in the sediment or perhaps a larger animal's feeding organ was responsible for the holes. The holes were given the name "lebensspuren" by the two researchers.

Read also: Unknown Species Waiting to be Discovered on Deep Seafloor: New Study 

NOAA Statement

In any case, it is still unclear where the holes came from. It serves as a reminder to the researchers of the fundamental gaps in our knowledge of mid-ocean ridge ecosystems.

Since May, the Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition has been operating. It is scheduled to end in September. Marine scientists utilize robotic vehicles capable of diving as deep as 6,000 meters (nearly 20,000 feet) as part of their research.

The water column, extinct polymetallic sulfide systems, fracture and rift zones, deep-sea coral and sponge habitats, and potential hydrothermal vents will all be explored during daily dives, according to NOAA.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the world's longest mountain range, spanning the north to south length of the Atlantic Ocean for about 10,000 miles, but it is still largely unexplored. There are frequent earthquakes in the seismically active area. There are hydrothermal vents as well, which offer warm environments known to support a variety of organisms.

The Azores Plateau and the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone are two additional study regions for the expedition, Newsweek reports.

Related article: Ocean Mapping Specialist Aims to Map Earth's Deepest Point