Underwater, Upside-Down Lakes
The vent field the team explored was near one that they’d first documented in 2018, which they named JaichaMaa ‘ja’ag, an indigenous Yuman word referring to liquid metal. The name is thanks to one of the vent’s features: an underwater cave where hot fluid gathered at the top, creating a mirror-like effect researchers describe as “an upside-down lake.”
On this trip, they documented several more vents in the area, measuring water temperatures up to 549 degrees Fahrenheit (287 degrees Celsius). One they named Maija awi after a water serpent in the creation myth of the Kumiai people who live in the Baja area. Another group of vents the researchers named ’Melsuu, a Yuman word for the color blue, which is a reference to how many striking blue worms lived in the vents.
