A new bubbling hotspot of carbon dioxide was discovered off the coast of the Philippines.
Soda Springs is a result of an underwater volcano, which vents gas and acidic water through cracks in the ocean floor.
Oceans are becoming increasingly acidic in recent years. This enhanced acidity disrupts marine life, leading to widespread ecosystem collapses, such as the widespread coral mass die-off. But what is the source of this sudden increase? Humans, of course, may play a role. But scientists constantly forget to look at some endemic sources of acidity lurking underwater.
Now, a few days ago, a new research presented the discovery of a new bubbling hotspot of carbon dioxide off the coast of the Philippines. And, Soda Springs, as the researchers named it, is a result of an underwater volcano, which vents gas and acidic water through cracks in the ocean floor.
The huge carbon dioxide vent was accidentally discovered in the Philippines’s Verde Island Passage, which runs between the Luzon and Mindoro islands and connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay.
It is unknown since how long it is releasing gas but it could be since millennia, as the region harbors one of the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world and thriving coral reefs.
So, the amazing bubbling location, which scientists captured on the video below, is not a climate change nightmare, but is linked to a nearby volcano that vents out the gases through cracks in the ocean floor and has probably been doing so for decades or even millennia.
Source of Soda Springs
Below Soda Springs is an underwater volcano, which vents gas and acidic water through cracks in the ocean floor at an incredible concentration of up to 95,000 parts per million (ppm), or 200 times the concentration present in the atmosphere.
The seafloor released enough gas to create enough acidic water to lower the pH for the nearby coastline.
As shown by the recent discovery of the largest caldera on Earth – also in the Philippines – it’s really a big part of the ocean that is left unexplored and unknown. There are probably many more such acidic vents enhancing the acidification of our oceans around the world. Find similar headlines on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [Geophysical Research Letters, UTexas]
