Sep 26 2008Wait, What?: An Underwater Lake
So apparently there are lakes of super-saline water at the bottom of the ocean.
During the Jurassic period the waters here were shallow and became cut off from the ocean. The area soon dried out, leaving a thick layer of salt and other minerals up to 8km thick. When ocean water returned after the region rifted apart, the super-saline layer at the bottom of the Gulf became an underwater lake. Now brine, which is continually released from a rift in the ocean floor, feeds the lake.
Now I know what you're thinking -- there has got to be magic involved. But you're wrong, my friend. This is pure sorcery.
Hit the jump for a longer David Attenborough clip about the lakes.
Lakes... 650ft Beneath the Waves! [environmentalgraffiti]
Thanks to Ben, who once took a girl skinny dipping in the middle of winter and didn't shrink an inch.
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Reader Comments
1. Thumperchica - September 26, 2008 12:48 PM
OOH! Yet another cool thing about Earth! I wouldn't live anywhere else!
2. LSDiesel - September 26, 2008 12:49 PM
So spongebob makes more sense now....
3. leujin - September 26, 2008 1:10 PM
Aw, damn. LSDiesel, you beat me to the punch.
4. pewpewpew - September 26, 2008 1:16 PM
watch for the pepper lakes they find them soon
5. nic bacon - September 26, 2008 1:26 PM
AN UNDERWATER F***ING LAKE??!!?? YOU F***ING CUNTS, DO YOU THINK I AM STUPID. FOR F***S SAKE, THAT'LL BE LIKE THE AIR IN AIR????
JESUS CHRIST IM GOING TO BE F***ING SICK
6. Miles - September 26, 2008 1:45 PM
Ah I see nic is back and in fine form today.
7. cliosguy - September 26, 2008 1:45 PM
there is air on air....LOL
8. Momboelitist - September 26, 2008 1:50 PM
Hey nick, you don't fit here. You are trying to be cool but you made 3 mistakes:
#1. Blasphemy
#2. ALL CAPS
#3. You're an annoying a$$hat.
A lake inside a lake.....Is this like those Russian dolls that go one into another? Hollow? Made of wood? Painted with....paint? OK, guess not.....
9. Jazzman - September 26, 2008 1:54 PM
Wait, What?!?
10. Thumperchica - September 26, 2008 2:09 PM
@8 - Nesting dolls.... So this is a nesting lake? if we look in the bottom of it will we find a pond? and a pool in that?
11. LSDiesel - September 26, 2008 2:23 PM
Journey to the center of the Earth team: "Ugh, yeah, we kinda fell behind schedule, we hit one of those f***ing underwater lakes again..."
12. nic bacon - September 26, 2008 2:24 PM
cliosguy you cock the point is that it doesnt need to be pointed out and Momboelitist you can f*** off to you dont make the rules you CUNT
13. Mr.Mitchell - September 26, 2008 2:29 PM
Nic man... to much coffee...
14. Mr.Mitchell - September 26, 2008 2:31 PM
I used to be the same way. Now I just smoke pot :) Way better than coffee IMO.
15. Djimon - September 26, 2008 2:32 PM
But is it as magical as my training montage from Never Back Down?
16. Miles - September 26, 2008 2:33 PM
nic nic nic.... so much pent up anger and tension. Why don't you go to the bathroom and knock one (or two) off and relieve a little of that stress. I'm jus' sayin'.....
17. neonarg - September 26, 2008 2:33 PM
@10 don't forget the puddle in the pool
18. Gingersnapz - September 26, 2008 2:34 PM
@14, I smoke pot too ;)
19. H2o Helghast - September 26, 2008 2:36 PM
@12 wow someone is having daddy issues.
20. Mr.Mitchell - September 26, 2008 2:37 PM
@11 and 18- you both have the same link in your name are you one person or did that happen by chance?
21. LSDiesel - September 26, 2008 2:40 PM
@20, it happened by chance. I am not gingersnapz.
@18, Go Erowid!!!
22. ShitBitch Carl - September 26, 2008 2:47 PM
nic makes me smile every time. Well, at least now that he's solely spouting obscenities and paranoia instead of a mixture spam and cusses.
And his name is lower case! The whole thing is AWESOME.
23. nic bacon - September 26, 2008 2:51 PM
yeah sorry i hate my job its winding me up! i would mr mitchell but i just moved here and i cant find any! still at least i know what its like to wake up without feeling like your in a big ball of cotton wool
24. nic bacon - September 26, 2008 2:52 PM
not that i prefer it or anything
25. Momboelitist - September 26, 2008 2:54 PM
@12, how do you know I don't make the rules? By the way, did school let out early today?
26. nic bacon - September 26, 2008 2:56 PM
BECAUSE I F***ING SAID SO, F*** YOU AND F*** JESUS TOO
anyway if you did you would never call yourself by a silly name like that
27. Buddy Love - September 26, 2008 3:10 PM
Nic bacon is like an unfunny version of me. And *I* am unfunny myself. So WTF.
28. No.6 - September 26, 2008 3:47 PM
This is actually a scene from the movie 'Never Back Down' where the big tough ocean comes along and trys to take over the lake, but the lake wasn't having it.
29. ZenoZTankof - September 26, 2008 3:49 PM
@2 I was thinking the same thing...
30. Momboelitist - September 26, 2008 3:51 PM
OK, School did let out early.
31. LSDiesel - September 26, 2008 4:01 PM
@28, I don't know if you're new, or your trying to be funny, but seriously, the Never Back Down jokes HAVE to stop.
32. No.6 - September 26, 2008 4:06 PM
If they did, that would be like backing down. And you Never Back Down.
33. No.6 - September 26, 2008 4:14 PM
Incidently, I don't know my 'trying to be funny' either. I didn't even know I had a 'trying to be funny'
34. Mcfeely Smackup - September 26, 2008 4:15 PM
I guess some things don't translate well through small, low quality video. I have no idea why that is supposed to be impressive to look at, because it doesn't look like anything.
35. butterpants - September 26, 2008 4:38 PM
I blame Obama for the Never Back Down jokes.
36. No.6 - September 26, 2008 4:40 PM
I blame video games.
37. thanks for asking - September 26, 2008 4:57 PM
isn't that nuts? I saw that a few months ago......
38. DigitalT - September 26, 2008 5:29 PM
So damn cool. Science never seizes to amaze me.
39. Cenon Mercado - September 26, 2008 7:41 PM
If a bad guy was hiding in that lake, Chuck Norris would still find him and kick his ass and then drown him in the lake in the lake. CUz buoyancy ain't got nothing on Chuck bitches, nothin'! Now f*** off and quit reason this.
Asshole.
40. ben - September 26, 2008 10:41 PM
Did any of you guys watch the discovery channel in the last 5 years? this is nothing new. the waves yes but there was always water on top of water. in some underwater caves its like that.
41. Rithly - September 27, 2008 9:07 PM
Aside from 39 and 40, all these comments have been pumped with fail.
I suggest we just stop coming to this post and wait till next week to argue so as to forget that we(you) all wrote such cruel and retarded things.
Sorry I was trying to be funny. My only funny on the net is to be an ass.
Seriously though, all the comments on here are either Never Back Down jokes, arguments or spelled wrong.
42. Tenchi059 - September 28, 2008 8:18 PM
@2 LOL
43. nic bacon - September 29, 2008 3:32 AM
I HAVE TERRIBLE GAS IT SMELL LIKE BANANAS. SHOULD I PEEL MY OWN ASS TO MAKE IT STOP?
BACON OUT.
44. Hazums - September 29, 2008 6:05 AM
heehee the fish looks like it's flying
45. kfgjg - September 29, 2008 10:59 AM
lol you guys didnt know of under water lagoons :P? i knew about them since i was 8-10 :S im 14 now ¬.¬
46. ubee017 - September 29, 2008 12:29 PM
#38, the english language still amazes you doesn't it. its 'ceases'. epileptics seize to amaze me. hmm, water in water! novel concept indeed.
that epileptic thing is probably lost on most people. sad. i go teach-a the english now:(
47. Fer - October 1, 2008 2:12 PM
YTMND of "weird squat lobsters" part?
48. Kristen the curious - July 30, 2009 12:45 AM
I say i totally believe in it. or at least really like the concept. I've always thought this was the closest to "magic" to me.
49. Ezra - September 19, 2009 9:42 AM
Ha! I told my friends SpongeBob having a lake on the seabed wasn't as absurd as a Starfish and a Sponge being that stupid!
50. spelit83 - November 20, 2009 11:58 AM
I read about underwater lakes in DISCOVER, along with an article on the amazing life at the bottoms of the ocean, and I went searching for video. An underwater lake . . . water too salty for surrounding ocean water to get in and break it up, currents from underground methane pockets that actually cause waves . . . Is anyone else just blown away by this?
And to nic and commentators on nic (myself included, now), find a more productive outlet and use of your time.
51. Omar - January 26, 2010 10:08 PM
It is true, Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and density.
Interesting that the Quran (Muslim Holy Book) talks about this too.
"He is the one who has set free the two kinds of water, one sweet and palatable, and the other salty and bitter. And He has made between them a barrier and a forbidding partition". (Quran, 25:53)
and in some other verse too. Pretty Cool.
52. Kellye - January 28, 2010 11:03 AM
This is amazing, surreal and beautiful. We humans like to consider ourselves armed with knowledge, and dominant in everything but nature's beauty like this really just stops me in my tracks. I truly feel insignificant next to the power of our planet's oceans.
Also yeah, Spongebob totally makes more sense now.
53. son of a F***ing B***h - February 24, 2010 7:21 PM
GO to F***ing H*** NIC BACON YOUR AN F***ING A**HOLE
54. a nonny mouse - October 14, 2010 5:55 PM
@5 yes we do think you're stupid and you proved it to us :)