Portal-lore Zine

Enter the portal ... and explore earth’s strangest locations and lores !

The universe is a mysterious thing. No matter how many centuries we live, we will never be able to explore its vastness and numerous planet systems. This zine’s cover opens with an adventurous astronaut who’s taking his little space pod through portals around the universe to explore what hasn’t been seen. He floats on planet Mars when it used to have water on its surface according to NASA, but time moves fast and it skips forward to it all evaporating away. The ozone layer which is the main focus of the illustration, also changes with the earth cycle, thus it is unfolding overtime around earth. Its color is a magical purple, to add some fantasy to the sci-fi environment. Everything shifts towards the blackhole, which is by itself a strange anomaly that swallows anything in its way. Its strength picks up, even tearing the rope that ties the astronaut to his ship, sweeping him into the unknown.

The Portal-lore zine contains seven digitally illustrated posters of mesmerizing places around the world. Portal-lore takes the fantasy and sci-fi themes and then creates artistic work combined with its respective information. The illustrations are a personal imaginative visualization of the various old lores, stories, ancient tales, myths, as well as facts surrounding these locations and phenomena. They are based on thorough research and my love for discovering nature documentaries and unfamiliar archeological sites. In each illustration, there is a different character related to the place, who portals in to create some sort of change or witness a fairytale sight. Scan the illustrations through the Artivive App to see it in augmented reality and enjoy its hidden digital layer!

Naica,

Northeastern Wyoming, U.S.

EYE OF THE SAHARA

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The depths of all oceans, around the world.

West of the Sahara Desert, Mauritania.

FINLAND AURORA BOREALIS

Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer, coined the name aurora borealis in 1619, after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas. The earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a 30,000-year-old cave painting in France. The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere. The temperature above the surface of the sun is millions of degrees Celsius. At this temperature, collisions between gas molecules are frequent and explosive. Free electrons and protons are thrown from the sun’s atmosphere by the rotation of the sun and escape through holes in the magnetic field. Blown towards the earth by the solar wind, the charged particles are largely deflected by the earth’s magnetic field. However, the earth’s magnetic field is weaker at either pole and therefore some particles enter the earth’s atmosphere and collide with gas particles.

Variations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.

Because the phenomenon occurs near the magnetic poles, northern lights have been seen as far south as New Orleans in the western hemisphere, while similar locations in the east never experience them.

The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, are like a moving painting projected across the sky. If you were a Disney fan, you may have come across a golden gem by the name of Brother Bear. The whole movie was centered around the mythology behind the aurora, and how it’s connected to the great spirits and the realm beyond death. It gives young viewers a glimpse of the magical colorful rays in the sky, fueling their curiosity and dreams. But how does such a mystical phenomenon form?

However, the best places to watch the lights (in North America) are in the northwestern parts of Canada, particularly the Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Auroral displays can also be seen over the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway and over the coastal waters north of Siberia.

Civilizations around the world have marveled at the celestial phenomenon, ascribing all sorts of origin myths to the dancing lights. In medieval times, the occurrences of auroral displays were seen as indicators of war or famine. The Maori of New Zealand shared a belief with many northern people of Europe and North America that the lights were reflections from torches or campfires. The Greeks and Romans believed that the goddess Aurora passed through the sky to signify dawn, the beginning of a new day. The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin believed that the lights indicated the location of “giants” who were the spirits of great hunters and fishermen. The Inuit of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted: the seals, salmon, deer and beluga whales. The Sami tribe however, did not see the lights as such a magical sight; they thought it came to punish them, cut their heads off and take them away to somewhere unknown in the sky. Native Americans believed that the lights were the spirits of their people and a part of the circle of life, just like in Disney’s Brother Bear. They saw it as a gateway to communicate with their lost loved ones and learn from their acquired wisdom. Another North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus head.

The Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife. The Norse in Iceland also believed that the lights can relieve the pain of a pregnant woman, but she should never look up while giving birth or the child could be born cross-eyed. In Finland, people thought when a fire fox ran so fast on the snow, its tail brushed up the snow to the sky, catching the moonlight, creating these sparkling lights. Whoever catches the fox, is rewarded with endless riches. Many Swedes thought that the Northern Lights provided light, good fortune and warmth from a volcano to the north. Some also thought that the lights were the reflections of herring fish in the coastal waters, blessing fishermen with good luck. There are many more beliefs and myths tied to the northern lights, but one cannot begin to list them all. What do you think the lights symbolize?

Imagine a vacation in Iceland, sitting around a warm campfire casting light on the white snow covering the mountains and lakes all around you. The dark sky above you is filled with tons of stars, unclouded by artificial light pollution. Out of nowhere, another light source ascends, and you look up to see the most astonishing view of dancing lights that you just can’t help thinking the doors of heaven opened in the sky. Now that’s a vacation you can never forget.

Long ago, the Finnish people believed that the aurora lights were created as an after effect of the fire fox gliding over the snow, spreading its particles in the sky. The scene shows the vibrant orange fox emerging from the left portal and cutting through the sky with its white tail, connecting to the lights. It is getting ready to leap into the big portal to finally exit from the right one. The trees in the composition are called Lapland Trees, special to Finland. In the distance, is “Korouoma frozen waterfall” that looks captivating in winter with its colorful icycles. The colors of the aurora and portals are reflected in harmony on the snow and ice. A triadic color palette was used in this illustration.

“Beautiful. Magical . Mystical ”

NAICA CRYSTAL CAVE

fine ores such as silver, zinc or lead, when they made this groundbreaking discovery accidently. To their surprise, they The cave itself is a horseshoe shape and measures about long. Its floor and ceilings are covered in smaller and shorter crystalline, perfectly carved blocks. The huge crystal beams jut out from both the blocks and the ground. The biggest crystal in the cave of swords is about 12 meters long and 4 meters in width and weighs over 50 tons Scientists never thought crystals can form enormously such as these before the discovery. It is said to have been formed over the course of 500,000 years ago !

Volcanic activity that began when Naica mountain was formed, filled it with high-temperature anhydrite, which is the anhydrous (lacking water) form of gypsum. Anhydrite is stable above 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius) Below that temperature, gypsum is the stable form. When magma underneath the mountain cooled and the temperature dropped below 58 degrees Celsius, the anhydrite began to dissolve. The anhydrite slowly enriched the waters with sulfate and calcium molecules, which for millions of years have been deposited in the caves in the form of huge selenite gypsum crystals. These perfect conditions for continuous crystal growth may never occur again, which is why this place is so sacred. Since the cave lies on top of this volcanic magma chamber, its environment is harsh with temperatures reaching 60 degrees Celsius and with over 90 degrees humidity with a lack of oxygen. No human can stay down there longer than 10 minutes without special equipment, such as ice-cooled suits.

The Naica cave is a pit of hell disguised as a magical habitat. The irony is, at first glance, they look like giant Excalibur swords of ice. Scientists also took samples from the red floors and tiny air pockets planted inside the crystals in search of new lifeforms. After testing, it was found that the bacteria and microorganisms started thriving in this deadly inhospitable ecosystem around 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. The team found as many as 200 million viruses in a single drop of water around the cave. Professor and Astrobiologist Penelope Boston was in charge of the operation of gathering a new database of organisms specific to caves. She even believes these life forms are a potential link to lead us to understand life on other planets. The microbial life-forms are most likely new to science, and introduces new families of species. According to NASA, the ecosystem they’re active in resembled the one on Mars. Apparently, we had aliens right under our feet.

Between 2008 and 2009, a video camera attached to a drill bit found hints of one more crystal-lined cave during the creation of the Robin Hole, a 2,000-foot-deep (600-meterdeep) ventilation shaft meant to cool mining tunnels below. A scientific team confirmed the new, naturally dry crystal cave about 500 feet (150 meters) below the surface. Dubbed the Ice Palace, the new cave lacks giant pillars, but sparkles with rare crystal formations, including minerals resembling cauliflower and fiber-optic-like filaments. However, the mysteries of the Ice Palace will likely remain unresolved as it is very narrow for humans to continue exploring, and the climate condition obviously gets worse in the cramped space. No explorer will ever make it beyond the chamber and back up in time before their lungs give out.

The cave was originally underwater before being pumped. It is still a debate whether scientists should leave the caves to slowly refill again, causing the crystals to grow, or keep it open for research while risking affecting the ecosystem’s conditions. There is no doubt that this is just the surface of how mesmerizing the natural world of the underground can be, but with human limitations, we might not scrape the half of it. Perhaps it is not such a terrible thing to leave nature’s secrets alone, but human curiosity wouldn’t easily let go of such a beautiful phenomenon without wondering; what else can be hiding beneath us?

The scene captures the moment Professor Penelope Boston enters the alien-like cave. The portal resembles flowing magma, to symbolize the cave resting on a volcano. After scanning the shiny crystal swords all around her, she shines her helmet on a point beyond the cave, as it stretches infinitely in space. The composition beginning from the crystal that Boston is walking on, leads the eye to the only blue area in the scene. The light acts as a microscopic print, revealing ancient life-forms. The color scheme is monochromatic, with the blue adding a complimentary touch.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

The Bermuda Triangle…a place of curses right here on earth. In the last 200 years, 20 planes, 50 ships and hundreds of people have just vanished in a small area in the Atlantic Ocean, otherwise known as :

The Bermuda triangle lies on the Sargasso Sea, a region of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the area of water that connects between Miami to Porto Rico to Bermuda. It covers about 500,000 square miles of ocean off the southeastern tip of Florida. A cool fact is, Satellite weather images show honeycomb cloud patterns above the Bermuda Triangle. These open and closed cells occur when cold, dry air mixes over warm water. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean,” and boaters and fliers continue to through the triangle without event. It might be a matter of being too focused on the intriguing stories surrounding that specific area that it’s become a central point of interest for doom, disregarding other places around the world that may have had similar accidents. It could also be…the reality.

It all started with the famous explorer Christopher Columbus, who warned about this danger zone even back then. According to his journal, in he noticed his compass behaved strangely when he crossed this area with his ship. saw strange lights in the distance against the sky, with unidentified flying objects. Could he be referring to UFOs? couldn’t be; maybe shooting stars or a fire in the distance. Skip to 1606, while traveling through the triangle area, a large English ship carrying 150 travelers became wrecked at Bermuda after encountering a huge hurricane. Even though this was just from the weather, it left a lousy impression on how people saw this place. In fact, it is supposed that this shipwreck inspired Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, which often referred to Bermuda being vexed or cursed. Next, in 1881, a ship was sailing from Liverpool to New York City, when it passed through the triangle. The people on board say that they came across a ghost ship with no one on board. There are varying reports on exactly what happened, but the people on board generally reported that some of the crew decided to get on the ghost ship but then the ships were separated by a massive storm. When they were reunited with the ghost ship the next day, there was no trace of the crew. Dangerous storms, hurricanes, whirlpools, underwater disturbances, rogue waves…so many natural disasters seem to center around this area. Later in February 1918, one of the U.S Navy’s largest ships, the USS Cyclops, carrying 300 people, crossed the Bermuda Triangle, but the ship never landed or sent an SOS signal despite being able to do so. Whatever they faced, left them no time to react. Its wreck was never seen again. Two US navy ships disappeared in 1941 in the time frame of 2 months. It wasn’t until 1945, when the suspiciousness tied to that area became high profile. During World War 2, five Navy pilots carrying 14 men took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in order to conduct practice bombing runs.

Tons of abandoned shipwrecks were recovered from its deep graveyard, with many still missing to this day. Various fictional stories were crafted to describe its anomalies; an alien base, a portal to another world, secret experiments zone, etc. But, there has to be scientific explanations for all the eerie events happening in that zone, right?

But with his compasses apparently malfunctioning, the leader of the mission, known as Flight 19, got lost. All five planes flew aimlessly until they ran low on fuel and were forced to ditch at sea. That same day, a rescue plane and its 13-man crew also disappeared and none of the remains were ever found. Perhaps this could be explained by saying the pilot was not up to task and ended up running out of fuel. However, the real cause is the compass going wild, again being the main culprit. Either the location of the triangle attracts certain magnetic forces in this spot on earth, or the significant amount of electromagnetic fields that can build up around planes and clouds.

flight 914 took off from New York enroute to Miami, but vanished in the sky without a trace. , the impossible happened and the same aircraft reappeared again! one morning in 1992, at an airport in Caracas Venezuela, air traffic controllers noticed an old fashioned and propeller driven model that hadn’t been used in years, hurtling in the direction of the runway. Juan de la Corte immediately made radio contact with the pilot, and the pilot responded that they are flight 914, ready to touchdown in Miami. When Corte explained in confusion during the landing that this wasn’t Miami, and the year 1992, the pilot panicked and took off, never to be located again, dropping behind a calendar of 1955. The passengers in the plane also wore very old-fashioned garments. Noone knows whether this was real or not; most likely a prank tale. The whole story could very well be fabricated. Did they enter some wormhole on earth? A gateway to a parallel universe? A vortex? Is time travel real?

A survivor of a flight On December 5th 1970, tells his tale to support this claim. Pilot Bruce Gernon, his father and his business partner embarked on a journey from Andros Island to Miami. The trip should’ve taken 75 minutes, but he encountered a dark tunnel of clouds out of nowhere at the altitude of 3500 feet, engulfing the vehicle. Flashes of light similar to lightning struck around him and it seemed the donut-shaped cloud ring had no end. Every time he nears an exit, the clouds shifted and warped and his machines malfunctioned. When he finally made it out, he found he had reached his destination in just 47 minutes, like a time leap portal!

Some conspiracy theories would even involve ancient myths by the Vikings, the giant squids “Krakens”. Indeed in 2004, huge squids 9+ meters long were recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, but let’s leave that up to imagination. Logically speaking, there can be no single theory that solves all the paranormal occurrences. If such a place with mysterious oddities exists in the ocean, then the fact that only 5% of the ocean has been explored…sends shivers down the spine.

“Devil’s Triangle”

This illustration is packed with action in the sea and sky. It follows a complimentary and analogous color scheme. A giant kraken popped out of the sea to grab what is left of a broken ship, and the difference in size is alarming. A rogue wave famous to the Bermuda area, towers upon the sea monster, signaling a storm in the sky. A triangle portal emerges from behind the swirling fiery clouds, and an alien is shown safely landing from that unknown realm. The unfortunate plane is about to enter the tunnel of dark clouds and lightning into a fate of doom.

DEVILS TOWER

Home of Bears

In Northeastern Wyoming, USA, a lone tower of nature stands tall and proud across vast flat grasslands. It rises about 1,267 feet (386 meters) above the land. From afar, it cuts through the sky majestically, being the focal point for miles and miles. Wild horses, cattle and many forest animals and birds roam peacefully in its domain. Tourists gaze up in wonder at the magnificent geological feature surrounded by pine trees and ancient oaks. It was the eerie center piece of the alien UFO landing scene in the movie, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1977. So, what is it about this “earthly” tower that allures scientists?

Devils Tower became America’s first national monument when it was first discovered in 1906 To climbers, it stands as a formidable challenge with a breathtaking view of the nature of Wyoming waiting for them when they reach the top. But to geologists, it’s a fascinating study in the incredible forces at work beneath the planet’s surface. Hexagonal parallel vertical columns draw their way from the top of the tower to the bottom; a very peculiar texture for a supposed rocky mountain to have. At its base, one will see the evidence of the changes it has undergone throughout its geologic history. Massive rocks, some large as a bus, form a 13-acre field. Predominantly around the west and south faces of the Tower, this field of giant rocks was created as pieces of the Tower weathered off and eroded down.

This volcanic monolith was not always called by this name, however. American Indian tribes who lived in this region had their own names for the formation. The most common and widely used during the time of United States exploration of the Black Hills (1855-75) was Bear Lodge. Other English translations of names used by Native Americans include Grey Horn Butte, Tree Rock, and The Place Where Bears Live. For thousands of years, it has been a spiritual and ceremonial home ground to Great Plains tribes. The name change happened during the time period when information was brought back by an inspection expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge.

His expedition sent a small group to study the Tower. After the group returned, Dodge wrote that the Indians called this place evil spirit. As a result of mistranslating two similarly sounding words “black bear” and “evil spirit” in Native American language, the label “Devils Tower” was created. The lore behind associating it with bears goes back to many native American stories. The basic idea behind them was about children or people fleeing from a colossal black bear. They prayed to the great spirit, who saved them by shooting up this monument from the ground, leaving the bear below. It clawed at the tower to try and reach them, and that is how the current textures came to be. In short, it was a place of refuge from bears, not devils.

There are numerous theories of how this massive tower could’ve formed, with the most obvious one being ancient volcanic activity. Geologists agree that Devils Tower formed from molten rock forced upwards from deep within the earth. Debate continues, however, as to whether the rock cooled underground or whether the magma reached the surface. Current research supports the conclusion that Devils Tower was not a volcano, but was injected between sedimentary rock layers and cooled underground. The characteristic of thin columns is the result of contraction, which occurred during the cooling of the magma. Estimates have placed the age of Devils Tower at greater than 50 million years!

However, the texture of the tower raises questions. This structure really does look like giant petrified tree trunks that flare out at the bottom as you would see in a root system on a tree. The structure itself looks like an actual tree trunk, only much, much bigger. When looking at some of the split rocks at its base, they look a lot like wood when they get sawed or cut; they leave behind blocky forms and flaring splinters similar to the ones found on the tower.

There is an even a crazier theory that it used to be a big foot, belonging to ancient giants. The base of the tower when viewed from an aerial perspective, can look like a snapped ankle, with a wrinkly texture, as insane as that sounds. A documentary series, Mudfossil University, by a scientist named Roger, explains the whole anatomy of an ankle and matches it with the individual forms on the tower. He points out that the discoloration between the rocks is actually blood, and not volcanic red sand. He claims to have performed tests on the rocks and collected DNA evidence that they are body parts. These claims may be delusional, but who are we to argue with DNA samples, if found?

There were enormous dinosaurs that lived once, as well as old texts about how humans were giants compared to our average size today. On that note, couldn’t some of the trees been up to scale? Whether something as bizarre as this could be true, it would probably be hard to prove. So, is it a mountainous rock? Petrified wood from a prehistoric tree? A dormant volcanic mountain? Or even the remains of giant species? Perhaps that’s why its identity got associated with the devil, an entity we will never truly understand. In the end, it is still a ritualistic place to this day. People visit to worship, pray, celebrate and leave offerings.

The Devils Tower has long been associated with the devil due to its strange location, but the color vibrancy of the landscape cancels that. It is actually place rich in cultural history when first discovered by the Native Americans. A “devilish” red portal opens, scattering tree leaves to reveal an old settler who traveled back through time to visit his old home. The spirit of the black bear joins him in the sky and bear tracks are visible on the path, as that was the tower’s original name; Bear’s Lodge. It was also named Tree Rock, as some crazy theories suggest it was an ancient giant petrified tree. An extension of the portal brings the tree in its place, to return everything back together as it supposedly was.

EYE OF THE SAHARA

The largest desert in the world is the Sahara Desert, spanning an area of 8.6 million kilometers, occupying 30% of Africa. Its sand dunes can rise above 150 meters, and it’s full of rocky mountains. Deserts were once green, thousands of years ago…yes, you heard that right. Perhaps due to the earth’s changing cycles and humans’ invasive actions, desertification occurred. There are mysteries yet to be explored in the vast deserts, but one of the strangest geological formations lies within the Sahara Desert, the blue eye of the Sahara, also known as :

The“Richat Structure”

The eye of the Sahara is located west of Mauritania. This formation stretches for more than 40 km-wide, enclosed by the Atlantic Ocean. It was first photographed by Gemini astronauts who used it as a landmark in the 1960s. They could see a geological art piece shaped distinctly as an eye in the middle. It’s so big and unique that it serves as a landmark for astronauts. The satellite showed an almost symmetrical circular crater with rings of elevated and lower grounds collapsing in on itself, creating uniform ripples. Some of its rocks are also covered in blue coloration, a beautiful complimentary color sight against the golden sand.

At first, Geologists believed that the eye of the Sahara was a blow crater that was created when an object from space struck the surface, such as a meteor. Some even theorized that it was an ancient dried-up ground volcano. However, the long studies of rocks within the structure didn’t uncover enough melted rock, proving to be entirely terrestrial (earthly). Scientists were puzzled how such a marvel was formed right here on planet earth without outer space intervention. Most scientists will tell you that the structure is in fact a deeply eroded geologic dome that formed more than a hundred million years ago when the churning landmasses that made up Africa originally (the separation of the supercontinent Pangea) caused the lithosphere, that’s the crust and upper mantle of the Earth’s surface to weaken and split.

This sudden weakness allowed the dome to rise up as magma swelled way below the surface. Geologists name this kind of uplift an anticline, basically an enormous fold of rock sticking up from its other surroundings. Because of the different rock layers and their resistance, the circular formations were shaped with multiple depths.

Scientists hypothesized that in the past, the Sahara was not a lifeless, arid land, on a number of occasions even. The last time was between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago. Back then, the tropics received more radiation from the sun, and summer and winter rains reached into the heart of this now barren land. On rock faces deep in the desert, prehistoric artists had scratched or painted evocative scenes of long-lost people herding cattle, as well as images of giraffes, hippos and elephants, similar to the savannas. Artefacts and tools that belonged to the nomads who possibly inhabited the area were found underneath the sand and in the Atlantic ocean. Also, a huge reservoir of pure water was found, which clearly was not part of any of the ancient seas. It turned out to be left from an ancient lake formed about 250,000 years ago when the Nile broke through a low channel in the area of today’s Wadi Toshka bay on Lake Nasser.

The most shocking truth is that fossils of fish and the ancestors of today’s whales the Basilosaurus, lived there in great numbers. Their huge fossilized remains were discovered during the excavations of Wadi al-Hitan in Egypt. The bones of these animals remained at the bottom of the ocean for millions of years until the ocean gradually disappeared, and the ocean land rose up, transforming into early versions of the Mediterranean and Black seas. The Sahara is sometimes called the valley of the whale. Moreover, one of the most sensational dinosaur discoveries were found in 2016, now called Mansourasaurus

This leads us to a controversial theory at best; that the eye was eroded by a massive flood, and this is where it gets interesting.

Plato further mentions that Atlantis had an abundance of metal, copper and gold - also Mauritania’s main export. He described that the island was covered in reddish and blue rocks, also found all around the eye. The story started when the Greek God Poseidon, sent his 10 children to rule 10 kingdoms of the Empire of Atlantis. The first king of its capital was called Atlas, and the first ruler of Mauritania, was also named Atlas. Little is it known, but the tale also came from the Ancient Egyptians, as they have carved in stone, that survivors of an old and sophisticated civilization travelled to the Nile when their island was fully obliterated by an ill-omened natural catastrophe.

Of course, these are all just speculations, and many would argue that it probably existed as part of Santorini, where the legend started. But since no remains have been found, and due to the huge time difference since its disappearance, any reliability of something being found in a certain location falls short. The truth of the matter is that the blue eye of the Sahara holds a legacy of secrets. More of its surrounding is still being uncovered until today; deserts are unexplored places of wonder.

This structure is around a 100 million years old, which is a phenomenal amount of time to have viewed many changes in the earth’s cycles. It lived through meteor strikes, disastrous floods and witnessed the time the Sahara Desert was a blooming savannah full of rivers, animals and dinosaurs. Some documentaries even suggest it may have been the capital of the lost city of Atlantis, due to its very close geological resemblance. Flying Atlantean letters (according to Disney) rain down from the Atlantis circle as it is about to be fixed in its rightful spot. A magician portals in holding a crystal ball and shines a light at the eye to see with her own eyes the fascinating prehistoric world before us.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

“Mesopelagic Zone”

We resume our recreational activities on the beach every summer within the shallow area of the ocean. Some people may think the first few meters in the ocean harbors most of the marine creatures due to it being closer to the sun, and their numbers dwindle in the deeper zones. However, the twilight zone is home to more diverse fish than the rest of the ocean combined. It’s the second zone of depth, covering almost all of the world’s open oceans. Yet despite its size, it’s still not well understood by scientists. It’s present in the world’s 5 oceans; Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, Southern and Indian oceans.

Four ocean zones exist that vary in depth. The region of the ocean that sits on the surface, is called the sunlight zone (Epipelagic Zone), where enough sun rays can penetrate the waters for photosynthesis to occur. The maximum depth for this zone in clear, open ocean water is 200 meters. Here is where the most common fish and exotic plants thrive in large numbers. Next is the twilight zone (Mesopelagic Zone) where barely any sunlight reaches. It extends from around 200 meters to 1000 meters. The environmental conditions become much more extreme and inhospitable for the average being. It is home to very unique fish and invertebrate species, but there are no photosynthesizing organisms here. This means that animals living in this zone either live on food particles that fall from the sunlight zone or are active predators that can go up to feed. Third, is the midnight zone (Bathypelagic Zone), where it’s completely dark and fewer species can survive the freezing temperatures. It is the part of the ocean that extends from 1000 meters to 4000 meters. Lastly, there’s the abyssal zone (Hadalpelagic Zone) that starts from 4000 meters until 6000 meters, which is usually the maximum depth of oceans if no trenches were formed. The word “Hadal” comes from Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld. Only a handful of organisms can live in this depth, such as microorganisms, the snail fish and species of shrimps.

There can be however, as mentioned, a fifth zone, which are trenches. The deepest point in the world reaches about 11,000 meters, and that is the Mariana Trench. It’s called the challenger deep and it was explored by the US explorer Victor Vescovo in 2019 for the first time in a new submersible called the Limiting Factor. He witnessed 4 new species and fun fact, he also found plastic and liter…human contamination even reaches the deepest pits of the earth.

Due to the twilight zone’s extreme depths that exceed the safe diving limit, yet not deep enough to invest in making a lot of machinery or submarines to dive down, this region’s mysterious marine life is vastly unexplored. On that note, Ahmed Gabr, an Egyptian ex-army officer now holds the Guinness World Record for diving the deepest depth of 332 meters on September 18th, 2014! He scratched the surface of the Twilight Zone and probably saw creatures no-one has ever seen, with his own eyes.

But with such a long way down to the twilight zone, why should we care what happens to it? Well, humans receive two key benefits from the twilight zone: the removal of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and the support of commercially important fisheries in the surface waters. During their daily migration, the creatures of the twilight zone move heat-trapping carbon dioxide from surface waters to the deep ocean, where it can be stored for long periods. Potential future benefits include the harvest of twilight zone fish to produce fish meals for aquaculture operations or fish oil for human health supplements. Society also receives indirect benefits from the twilight zone, such as the knowledge generated by marine science and the environmental awareness of the ocean. For example, this habitat has some of the most ancient creatures on earth, like the Leatherback Sea Turtle, the largest and oldest turtle in the world. It is from the time of the dinosaurs and hasn’t evolved much for over 70 million years

In the deeper parts of the twilight zone, the sea creatures exhibit an extra-ordinary phenomenon called Bioluminescence. As in, they rely on producing and emitting their own light through chemical reactions or bacteria in their body. It’s an adaptation to guide them in the darkness, send distress signals or lure prey. Magnificent species including colorful jellyfish, worms, bacteria, squid and transparent fish all sparkle in the dark and what a scene that is. Most of these lights are blue or green. Little is known as to why that is, but scientists believe these colors travel faster underwater. Red is sometimes produced, but it is a bit dim against the dark water. There’s even a species called Gossamer Worm that emits gold specks all around it.

Sadly, humans are slowly endangering this zone due to invasive fishing nets, that are pulled regularly to the surface to “catch all in its way”. Just the sound of it feels detrimental to the ocean life. We are so invested with life outside the planet that we overlook life beneath our oceans. We’ve got our very own alien life forms here on earth, waiting to be discovered. Marine biologists are slowly beginning to uncover just the basic species that live there, but surely there’s an infinite number of bizarre creatures in our planet’s sea bodies.

It is impossible for divers to dive deeper than 300 meters into the ocean, but with the help of a magical portal, a diver was able to witness some of the strangest creatures that ever lived.