Dive an Underwater River or Lake?

There exists underwater rivers and lakes that flow and ebb like the surface lakes and rivers that we are used to seeing.

These underwater bodies of water, if I may, are caused by saltwater mixing with hydrogen sulfate.  This hydrogen sulfate mixture is heaver than its surrounding seawater and therefore tends to sink to the bottom.  When this happens there is a distinct difference between the 2 types of seawater. In fact the  heavier water at the bottom appears to flow as though it is a river or lake.

These occurrences are often found in the cenotes of the Mexican Yucatan peninsula, but scientists are now finding deep sea lakes that have and host their own ecosystems.

Read on for more about these underwater bodies of water below.

In addition to giving scuba divers the distinct feeling that they’re flying through a landscape painting, the underwater river allows them to snap mind-blowing pictures like the series you’re looking at taken by Anatoly Beloshchin.

Unfortunately, hydrogen sulfide is extremely toxic, so the chances of the above scuba diver pulling in some sort of meta-fish aren’t great. However, there is an underwater body of water on the abyssal plain (the part out past the continental shelf where the ocean floor starts to make shit real) that is teeming with life. Deep sea lakes look like normal lakes, complete with sandy and rocky shores. Scientist call these lakes “cold seeps,” but they’re a hotbed for life, because apparently waterfront real estate is a hot commodity under water, too. The “rocky” shores are actually made up of hundreds of thousands of mussels.

Read the full article on Cracked.com

Watch this amazingly awesome experience in the video below.

“Cenote Angelita: ‘Underwater River'” – YouTube video by AB TV

Images source: YouTube Clips 1 , 2

See next page below for amazing videos of these phenomena.