There's a 'Lost City' Deep in The Ocean, And It's a Place Unlike Anywhere Else



West of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the top of an undersea mountain, a ragged landscape of towers emerges from the darkness.

A remotely driven vehicle sent to explore casts a ghostly blue hue on its creamy carbonate walls and columns.

From tiny toadstool-sized stacks to a massive monolith reaching 60 meters (almost 200 feet) tall, they are of different sizes. The Lost City is this.

Observation of the Lost City

A remotely controlled vehicle illuminates the Lost City's spires. URI-IAO/NOAA/D. Kelley/UW).

The Lost City Hydrothermal Field, which was found by researchers in 2000 and is located more than 700 meters (2,300 feet) below the surface, is the ocean's longest-lasting venting environment. It is unique and has never been matched.

In this region of the planet, the upthrusting mantle has been reacting with saltwater to push hydrogen, methane, and other dissolved gases into the ocean for at least 120,000 years and possibly longer.

Even in the absence of oxygen, hydrocarbons nourish unique microbial populations in the cracks and fissures of the field's vents.


Snails and crustaceans abound in chimneys that vent gases that can reach temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F). Even though they are uncommon, there are still larger species including eels, crabs, shrimp, and sea urchins.

Some academics believe that the environment is worth our attention and care since, despite its harsh conditions, it seems to be teeming with life.

This is the only hydrothermal field that remotely operated vehicles have been able to find so far, however other ones like it undoubtedly exist elsewhere in the oceans of the planet.

The hydrocarbons released by the vents of the Lost City were created by chemical processes on the deep bottom, not by air carbon dioxide or sunlight.

This raises the probability that life began in a habitat similar to this one as hydrocarbons are the basis for life. And not just here on Earth.

The ecosystem of the Lost City doesn't rely on the heat of lava, in contrast to underwater volcanic vents known as black smokers, which have also been suggested as a potential first habitat.

While Lost City chimneys produce up to 100 times more hydrogen and methane than black smokers do, black smokers primarily produce iron- and sulfur-rich materials.

In addition, the Lost City's calcite vents are enormously larger than black smokers, which shows they have been operational for a longer period of time.

Chimney in the Lost City that is nine meters high. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Washington).

Poseidon, named after the Greek deity of the sea, is the name of the monolith that stands the tallest at more than 60 meters.

Meanwhile, a cliffside with brief spurts of activity is located immediately northeast of the tower. The vents in this area are said to be "weeping" with fluid, creating "clusters of delicate, multi-pronged carbonate growths that reach outward like the fingers of upturned hands," according to researchers at the University of Washington.

Unfortunately, that strange terrain draws more than than scientists.

Poland was awarded the permission to mine the deep sea near The Lost City, it was revealed in 2018. Although the thermal field itself contains no valuable minerals, the destruction of the city's environs could have unexpected repercussions.

Scientists caution that any plumes or discharges brought on by the mining might quickly wash across the unique ecology.

To preserve the natural beauty before it's too late, some experts are urging that the Lost City be added to the World Heritage list.

The Lost City has served as a monument to life's tenacity for tens of thousands of years.

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