Yellow Brick Roads Don’t Just Exist in Movies. There’s a Real Yellow Brick Road Under the Sea

The yellow brick road that Dorothy followed in The Wizard of Oz wasn’t over the rainbow but under the sea. At least, that’s what the team responsible for a 2022 geological discovery may have thought when their cameras captured images of a unique formation during an expedition.

The yellow road. “Follow the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ to Geologic Features of Liliʻuokalani Ridge Seamounts,” the team said in the press release announcing the discovery.

The “road” they found wasn’t from a magical world but is one of the underwater geological formations in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. This protected area surrounds the Leeward Islands, the western extension of the Hawaiian archipelago.

What’s unique about this formation is its cobblestone-like appearance, with smooth, mostly rectangular rocks. “That’s like baked crust,” and “yeah, like you could peel it off,” commented the researchers controlling the submersible as they analyzed the seafloor in a video.

Unique geology. According to the press release, the terrain corresponds to a formation known as a “dried lake bed.” Examinations revealed that the rock forming this bed was hyaloclastite, a volcanic rock created by high-energy eruptions that deposit numerous fragments on the seafloor.

The expedition team noted that the unique “brick-like” appearance of the rocks likely resulted from stresses caused by heating and cooling over multiple volcanic eruptions. Along the way, the researchers encountered other volcanic rocks, including simple ferromanganese-coated basalts.

Luʻuaeaeaahikiikekumu 2022. The E/V Nautilus made the discovery during the Luʻuaeaeaahikiikekumu 2022 expedition. Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and organized by the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET), the mission took place from April 7 to May 1, 2022, building on a previous one from October.

The goal, according to the expedition leaders, was to collect samples to determine both the geological origin and age of the underwater formations. In addition to studying the area’s unique geology, they wanted to examine the biodiversity of coral and sponge communities in the region.

E/V Nautilus. The oceanographic vessel Nautilus was built in the late 1960s in East Germany. The OET acquired it in 2008, shortly after forming the partnership. The vessel, which is 223 feet long, has the capability to deploy remotely operated vehicles.

Image | Ocean Exploration Trust

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