A submerged natural structure situated at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been dubbed the "hot tub of despair" for a deadly reason. Unlike a regular man-made jacuzzi that sprays warm water to relax us, this underwater pit has an extremely high concentration of salt. The pool is so toxic that any living creature that falls into it is bound to lose its life and get embalmed with the brine, per Live Science. The toxic water can only be tolerated by a small number of bacteria and sea creatures.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Jeremy Bishop
The brine-filled hot tub was unknown to people until a bunch of researchers carried out an expedition in 2015. That was when they explored the depths of the Gulf of Mexico and the cold seeps in it and eventually found the natural hot tub. Places at the bottom of the ocean where hydrocarbons leak out from the ocean floor and enter the water are known as cold seeps. The cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico occur when the slabs at the sea floor made with salt shift out of the crevices.
According to Nautilus Live, the expedition team that sent their machines to deep dive into the region, spotted "pickled" crabs and other marine creatures lying inside the bowl-shaped pit of brine. The hot tub of despair lies nearly 3,300 feet below the ocean surface and measures 100 feet in circumference and is 12 feet deep. The salty pit formed after hydrocarbons continued to bubble up from the slab of salts underneath the surface, as mentioned in the Oceanography journal in 2016. The salt quantity is more than four times more potent than the surrounding region and is dense enough to not mix with seawater.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Caroline O.marcel
The temperature of the pit also reached up to 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius). The warm temperature and the saline water create a lethal surrounding for sea creatures that crawl into it and never make it out alive. The brine water is full of hydrogen sulfide and methane. Hence, only specific organisms such as mussels can endure to proliferate there. The expedition team also captured the entire build of the brine pit on their YouTube channel EVNautilus.
In the video, we could see the pit surrounded by steep walls that are covered in red, yellow and white minerals. There are clusters of mussels growing around the area too. The brine almost gives the impression of a waterfall as it seeps over the pit. There are many embalmed creatures like crabs and shellfish scattered around the pit. "The rim rises pretty sharply," a person can be heard saying in the video while they remotely operated the underwater vehicle (ROV). "The mussels, they've done a really standup job at keeping the walls intact. Initially, probably what happens is fluid starts to erupt from the seafloor and then you get biological communities that start taking advantage of that."
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Kindle Media
This leaves many of us wondering how the Gulf of Mexico's dangerous brine pit came into existence. According to Discovery, the gulf used to be a lot more shallow millions of years ago. When the water evaporated, it left a massive amount of salt behind, which ultimately formed the salt slabs. However, the hot tub of despair isn't the only area in the ocean that is capable of killing organisms with high concentrations of salt. In colder regions of the oceans, brinicles are frozen spikey structures that often trap marine creatures in them.
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President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
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The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.