The Mysterious And Creepy RIVERS That Flow INSIDE Oceans

Popular American actress Gloria Stuart once said, “A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets”.

While this analogy may attract diverse opinions which may be influenced by one’s acceptance or disagreement of it, one aspect of this expression remains unchallenged - the fact that the deepest parts of our planet harbor many secrets which are yet to be unearthed and brought to the fore. We, humans, are a curious lot. So much so that our intense hunger to unravel mysteries dares us to venture into the most daunting places, including remote and uninhabited corners of the Earth, challenging trenches and mountain peaks, under the oceans, and even into space to unfurl the mysteries of the universe! However, despite demystifying many puzzling incidents and phenomena, we continue to be baffled by our vast oceans' expansive water stretches, 95% of which are yet to be fully explored and understood! Among the many mysteries that surround our undersea world is the lesser-known oddity of underwater rivers - there are massive watercourses that exist deep under the oceans, hidden from the untrained human eye and flowing in silence!

Now, this may surprise some of you because we have always been told that rivers are formed when tiny streams cascade down mountains or hill slopes. They percolate downward through cracks, fissures, and folds in the rocks, expand in size as tributary streams join them, and eventually flow into an ocean, sea, or lake - that’s what we have known since childhood…isn’t it? Well, we surely got it all right barring the fact that we got it incomplete! That is because sonar scanning has now revealed that along with surface rivers, our planet also manifests underwater rivers that flow deep inside the oceans. Now, there can be varied reasons for the existence of undersea rivers, also known as submarine channels. It took millions of years to shape the Monterey Canyon whose development can be traced to an undersea river that extends out into the Pacific Ocean from the mouth of the Canyon.

Submarine channels, such as the one mentioned above, originate in the continental shelf (an underwater landmass where the sea is relatively shallow). These underwater channels tend to exhibit massive sediment deposits or levees, accumulated over a period. An inspection of such levees indicates that they are the result of recurring deposits of sediment along the channels. Unlike freshwater systems that primarily comprise salts as their dissolved solids, undersea rivers consist of semi-liquid mixtures of sand and silt. Slowly and gradually, these channels, which first emerged in the continental shelf and then spread out to the floor of the continental slope and continental rise, start gaining momentum and speed. In due course, they assume the natural flow of a river, often flowing for weeks and months on end.

Cenote Angelita is a cenote - a deep and natural sinkhole. The word ‘Angelita’ means ‘little angel’ in Spanish. Thus, the name Cenote Angelita came into being. This extraordinary natural wonder can be experienced at a depth of 90 - 100 feet beneath the surface of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. When viewed from land, Cenote Angelita will hoodwink you into believing that it is just another ordinary sinkhole, without giving you any inkling of the hidden jewel that lies deep within! However, as you dive deeper into the sinkhole, you will be awed by the astonishing phenomenon that results from the mixing of fresh rainwater with salty underground water. This freshwater gradually accumulates in the deep sinkholes, and the salty water is exposed by the collapsing of limestone bedrock which causes the groundwater underneath to emerge. The breathtaking convergence led to the formation of the surreal underwater river called Angelita Cenote. The varying density levels in the fresh and salty waters result in the formation of a thick and blurry layer of hydrogen sulfide gas known as ‘halocline’. This 6-ft deep swirling mist, isolating the surface layer of fresh water from the deeper layer of salt water, creates the impression of a tree-lined undersea river, coursing through a cave filled with water. The trees, branches, leaves, and other debris that emerge from beneath bear an uncanny resemblance to a secluded forest in the middle of a water-filled cave. The Cenote Angelita is not an actual river as it is an illusion created by a cloudy layer of foul-smelling gas that moves on its own, swirling and bending in a way that mirrors a meandering river. Eventually, the salty water flows into the undersea channel. Because of the considerable salinity and density of the Mediterranean water when compared to that of the Black Sea, the former is unable to integrate with the latter, thus existing as a separate channel at the bottom of the Black Sea. The channel measures 37 miles in length, up to 115 feet in depth, and 0.6 miles in width. Its speed is estimated at 4 miles per hour with 22,000 cubic meters of water passing through it every second! These are a few of the several rivers that could possibly be flowing under the sea and inside our oceans - a prospect that is yet to be fully explored and understood. Once thought to be a miracle or the outcome of a supernatural phenomenon, it has since been proved that these mysterious underwater rivers have a scientific explanation behind them - giving us strong reasons to believe that more such discoveries are on their way to surprise us and giving us strong reasons to believe that there are more of these mysterious underwater rivers in the world.