Hidden under Mexico is bottomless 'Hot Tub of Despair' pool which instantly kills what swims into it

A bizarre bottomless pool called 'Hot Tub of Despair' is hidden beneath the Gulf ofMexico and it is so deadly that it can kill anything which enters it instantly.

This 100-foot (30.5-metre)-wide pond is filled with a toxic mixture of hydrogen sulphide, ultra-salty water, and methane, and only a handful of creatures can survive in it.

The researchers discovered the toxic pond in 2015 and found that its banks were filled with preserved corpses of creatures who had tried to swim in the warm waters.

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The pool is said to be present more than 1,000 metre (3,300 foot) below the Gulf ofMexico.

How did researchers discover the 'Hot Tub of Despair'?

The bottomless pond was discovered by the Ocean Exploration Trust when they were investigating the 'cold seeps' in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico.

In this region, dense hydrocarbons, which are the basis of oil and petrol, release from beneath the seafloor and enter the water column.

Vast layers of salt are formed by cold seeps, which are created when ancient oceans evaporate.

With the shift and crack in salt layers, the resulting gaps permit compounds, which are generally trapped beneath the ground, to escape.

Sometimes, when the cracks are formed, huge amounts of salt are dissolved by water present in the sediment layers to form a brine that is four times saltier than seawater.

Because the brine is so dense, it remains on the floor of the ocean and fails to get easily mixed with the surrounding salt water.

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In places where the welling up of saltwater takes place, strange underwater lakes and ponds like 'Hot Tub of Despair' are formed by 'brine pools'.

The researchers, with the help of a remote-operated vehicle named Hercules, found a steep, thin wall, which was made of deposited minerals and livemussels, and rose three metres above the seafloor.

It was found filled with 12 foot (3.7 metre) deep layer of brine, which was present above a 'bottomless' pond of liquidised mud.

(With inputs from agencies)