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The Secret of Underwater Asphalt | Tomorrow Today

1,626 views · Published 7 June 2010 · 5:19 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: DW News · 2010 · Science & Technology

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Florence Schubotz is a geochemist at MARUM. She studies a very special habitat in the Gulf of Mexico. There at depths of 3,000 meters large areas of the sea floor are covered with swathes of asphalt.  

This material originates in the petroleum deposits beneath the sea bed. As hydrocarbons leak out through cracks in the sea floor, lighter components rise up to the water surface, the cooled, denser components remain on the seabed, leaving a solid mass of asphalt. The result is a submarine landscape that resembles a cooled volcanic lava field. Inhospitable as it may seem, these formations are home to a unique community of organisms.

The marine researcher takes Tomorrow Today on a journey to underwater worlds that have never been seen before.

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