A mysterious shipwreck on the floor of Monterey Bay in northern
California has been serendipitously discovered by scientists mapping
earthquake fault lines. Sonar images from research on the San Gregorio, a
major fault system that lies along the outside of the bay Fault, led
the researchers to detect a vessel.
Charlie Paull, a scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in a report by local station KSBW, said the discovery is rare and it is the first time when the scientists have found a shipwreck that they initially had no idea about.
The researchers found the vessel a mile below the ocean's surface in Monterey Bay's subterranean canyon. Thanks to Katie Maier, a research geologist with the U. S. Geological Survey, who first detected the drowned ship in the soar images.
"One of the things we're interested in is how wrecks like that get colonized how they decay what happens with time and I think it's an opportunity for local studies to be launched to understand that in a place where we going to be operating in those water depths frequently", said Paul.
The researchers zoomed up the image and looked at the spot to gather fine details of it. They saw the shape of the barge in those maps.
A remotely operated vehicle equipped with a video camera was then sent by the team to record the shipwreck. The camera flawlessly captured an image of the boat, named Umpqua II.
The researchers then went to search more on Google and figured out shortly that the mysterious wreckage belonged to a barge that ran into difficulties in Moss Landing harbor back in 1992. The Umpqua II was laying on the bottom of the ocean floor before researchers luckily found it after detecting it in sonar images.
Charlie Paull, a scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in a report by local station KSBW, said the discovery is rare and it is the first time when the scientists have found a shipwreck that they initially had no idea about.
The researchers found the vessel a mile below the ocean's surface in Monterey Bay's subterranean canyon. Thanks to Katie Maier, a research geologist with the U. S. Geological Survey, who first detected the drowned ship in the soar images.
"One of the things we're interested in is how wrecks like that get colonized how they decay what happens with time and I think it's an opportunity for local studies to be launched to understand that in a place where we going to be operating in those water depths frequently", said Paul.
The researchers zoomed up the image and looked at the spot to gather fine details of it. They saw the shape of the barge in those maps.
A remotely operated vehicle equipped with a video camera was then sent by the team to record the shipwreck. The camera flawlessly captured an image of the boat, named Umpqua II.
The researchers then went to search more on Google and figured out shortly that the mysterious wreckage belonged to a barge that ran into difficulties in Moss Landing harbor back in 1992. The Umpqua II was laying on the bottom of the ocean floor before researchers luckily found it after detecting it in sonar images.
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