There’s an underwater lake that kills almost anything that enters it. The lake is located in the Gulf of Mexico and is called the Jacuzzi of Despair.
The Jacuzzi of Despair is a deadly underwater lake
Sometimes called the Hot Tub of Despair, the lake is what scientists call an underwater brine pool. The poot itself is full of methane, making it a toxic pocket of seawater that kills almost anything that mistakenly swims into it.
This lethal hellscape of a pool was discovered off the coast of New Orleans. It’s around 100 feet in circumference and 12 feet deep. We found the Jacuzzi of Despair nearly 3,300 feet below the surface, roughly a day’s boat ride off the coast. Thanks to an increased concentration of salt, the area is also five times saltier than the ocean around it.
Since its discovery, scientists have visited the Jacuzzi of Despair using robotic submarines. This has allowed them to get a good look at the little life that survives the brine pool’s intense toxicity. The pool doesn’t kill everything that enters it. But, knowing that areas like this exist in the ocean only makes one wonder just how many more deep areas like this might be waiting to be discovered.
Depths of an unexplored world
The ocean is fascinating, and knowing that places like the Jacuzzi of Despair exist only makes it even more fascinating. The fact that the waters of this area are so toxic, yet the rest of the ocean around it remains relatively normal, is intriguing. That’s possible thanks to the density of the water.
This created a cauldron of toxic chemicals, including methane and hydrogen sulfide. And, because this combination of chemicals and salt is so toxic, any fish, amphipods, or crabs that mistakenly swim into the pool are likely to die.
But how did a pool like the Jacuzzi of Despair come to be? Well, many believe that the Gulf of Mexico was much more shallow millions of years ago. As the water evaporated, it would have left massive layers of salt behind. Over time, more layers of sediments settled, burying the salt and creating pressure beneath it all.
When the pressure grew too great, the layers cracked, releasing a massive amount of salt into the water around it. This created the Jacuzzi of death we know today.
More ocean coverage: MIT scientists built an underwater camera with no battery.
