'Underwater Land of Oz': 'Yellow Brick Road' found in Pacific Ocean bed off Hawaii

Washington, May 10

An ongoing underwater exploration expedition in the Pacific Ocean, just off the Hawaiian Islands, has come across what seems to be a "Yellow Brick Road", like the one taken by Dorothy and her friends to reach the 'Wizard of Oz', as per the engaging children's fable, reports said.

Exploration vessel Nautilus, which is currently surveying the Lili'uokalani ridge within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM), one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world and larger than all the national parks in the US combined, but barely surveyed so far, came across this "road", over 3,000 metres underwater, ScienceAlert reported.

The survey, being undertaken by the Ocean Exploration Trust, is being transmitted live and a recently published highlight reel on YouTube captured the moment researchers operating the deep-sea vehicle "stumbled upon the road to Oz", it said.

"It's the road to Atlantis," a researcher on the radio can be heard exclaiming.

"The yellow brick road?" another voice countered.

"This is bizarre," added another member of the team.

"Are you kidding me? This is crazy."

Despite being located under about thousands of metres of ocean, the lake bed, where the "road" was found, looks surprisingly dry. On the radio, the team notes that the ground looks almost like "baked crust" that could be peeled off.

In one tiny section, the volcanic rock has fractured in a way that looks strikingly similar to bricks.

"The unique 90-degree fractures are likely related to heating and cooling stress from multiple eruptions at this baked margin," read a caption to the YouTube video.