In the Liliʻuokalani Ridge in the Papahānaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) in the Pacific Ocean, the exploration ship Nautilus, operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, caught sight of an odd formation that looks like a cobblestone road.
"It's the road to Atlantis," one explorer jokes, before another one asks, "The yellow brick road?"
They are joking, of course, and they explain it is ancient volcanic geology instead of mythical advanced civilizations.
At the summit of Nootka Seamount, the team spotted a "dried lake bed" formation, now IDed as a fractured flow of hyaloclastite rock (a volcanic rock formed in high-energy eruptions where many rock fragments settle to the seabed). The unique 90-degree fractures are likely related to heating and cooling stress from multiple eruptions at this baked margin.
