Why Are Scientists Searching for Undiscovered Shipwrecks and Unusual Geological Features in the Aegean Sea?
A key purpose of NOAA’s Ocean Exploration Initiative is to investigate the more than 95 percent of Earth’s underwater world that until now has remained virtually unknown and unseen. Such exploration may reveal clues to the origin of life on earth, cures for human diseases, answers to how to achieve sustainable use of resources, links to our maritime history, and information to help protect endangered species. In addition, exploration of active volcanoes and other geological features of the deep sea provides important information on potential hazards such as risks to shipping from shallow eruptions, as well as the generation of dangerous tsunamis from large submarine eruptions and landslides. Mariners have traveled the Aegean Sea since Neolithic times (the ‘Stone Age’; 6,500 – 3,200 BC). Motives for their voyages ranged from trading to exploration to warfare, making seafaring prominent in the history of cultures that include the Minoans (ca 2,600 – 1,450 BC), Mycenaeans (ca 1,600 – 1,10
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