Scientists stumble upon hundreds of craters in New York lake, solving a 'booming' puzzle
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Scientists stumble upon hundreds of craters in New York lake, solving a 'booming' puzzle")
Seneca Lake in New York has been making booming sounds for years that travel several kilometres. Photograph: (Wikimedia Commons)
A lake in New York has been screeching for hundreds of years, leading to speculations ranging from aliens to secret government tests. However, scientists have now uncovered the source of these strange sounds, and they are linked to the pockmarked seabed.
Seneca Lake in New York has been a source of rumours and nightmares for over three centuries because of the eerie sounds emanating from it. People as far as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and even Florida have heard them. People have reported hearing loud booms similar to cannon shots coming from deep inside this water body. Scientists have come up with several theories to explain these strange sounds, as have the common people. They were named “Seneca guns” or “Seneca drums" after the local Seneca Tribe, which believed that it was the shouts of an angry Manitou, the Great Spirit. European settlers heard them too and thought that it was the noise of the ghosts of Seneca warriors. Some even believed that an alien spacecraft was making the sounds. Top secret government projects being tested inside the lake were also believed to be one explanation. However, people have been hearing it since 1700, and so a scientific explanation doesn't seem plausible.
But scientists have now finally figured out the source of these sounds. In the early 19th century, experts said that the mysterious booms could be explosions of gas trapped in the lakebed. Geologist Herman Fairchild said in 1934 that bubbles of natural gas escaping from a layer of sandstone inside the earth were bursting with a booming sound as it came up. In 1971, geoscientist William F. Ahrnsbrak also said methane was possibly bursting under the lake. Researcher Tim Morin, of SUNY ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry) in Syracuse, New York, concurs with what Fairchild said.
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Moring and researchers from Cornell University were studying the lake's shipwrecks when they found 144 huge craters on the bed. Each was nearly 30 feet deep and 400 feet wide. An analysis of the lake water and material collected from deep pockets of sediment finally explained what was causing the creepy sounds. They found traces of methane and other gases, which showed what was actually happening deep inside the lake.
What is happening Seneca Lake?
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The lake was formed from an ancient glacier that melted after the last Ice Age. The team found that pressure builds up under the lakebed for years, and when it is released, bubbles of methane erupt from under it. As this happened, the force not only left behind craters, but also sent a shockwave that travelled several kilometres and sounded like a cannon firing. The lake's design itself was something that amplified the sound - It has about 4.2 trillion gallons of water, 618 feet deep in some places and a lakebed that is 200 feet below sea level.
Experts say that the methane released from the lake is not lethal for humans. But the same phenomenon could be going on in many other similar lakes, and some of them could pose a threat.
