Aug 4, 20221 min
Helium has been found in the gas coming out of the water in the world's deepest underwater freshwater cave in Moravia, Czech Republic.
Article extract
To measure the depth of Franis Abyss, cavers used a special remote-controlled underwater robot called the Death Star, equipped with six cameras and sonar beams. The robot was tethered to a rope and slowly sank into a deep limestone cave in cold, muddy water.
We stopped at the maximum technical limit of 450 meters, but we have not yet reached the bottom of the abyss.
Geologist Michal Geršl says the final depth could be several kilometres. “The gas that comes out of the water consists mainly of carbon dioxide, but there is also a small amount of helium. It comes from the upper part of the Earth’s mantle, about 40 kilometres deep. This means that there must be some pathways that run through unimaginable depths that are getting narrower and narrower and are clearly inaccessible to us.”