It’s no secret we know more about the stars above us, than the Earth below our feet. However, we’re making strides to resolve our ignorance now that we’re paying closer attention. Case in point, scientists have found something a little weird in the water. I’m talking about the Pacific Ocean. It has my creative Muse tingling in glee over possibilities.
There is a shadow zone, it’s been discover. A deep, huge pool of water that hasn’t seen the light of day in about 2,000 years. You read that right. The water trapped in that area was last on the surface before the Roman Empire fell.
Now, shadow zones are pretty big and there’s a couple, in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The one in the Pacific measures an awesome 3,700 miles by 2,000 miles and is about 2 miles in depth. The circulation is very poor and there’s very little oxygen in the water.
But it raises questions about what is down in that vast stretch of ocean. Just because low oxygen levels exist, doesn’t mean there isn’t any life.
Perhaps some ancient, long thought extinct creature lurks or an unseen mutation of a creature we already know, just waiting for its time to shine. It might give us a clue as to how other species on other worlds survive and thrive in low oxygen environments. We might even find something completely unexpected. Time will tell and until then, it’s great fuel for the imaginative author to chew on.
Here’s to shining a light in the dark.
-T.A. Creech
Science in the pursuit of Fiction.