As these plates move away from each other, molten rock, or lava, wells up from tens of kilometers beneath the surface of the seafloor. Some of the molten rock that ascends to the seafloor gathers in enormous magma chambers just below the rock water interface.  If there is an opening (crack) in the basalt overlaying the axis of the ridges, the molten rock will rise to the surface and flow out without erupting.  The new lava will solidify on the edges of the plates as they spread apart, creating new oceanic crust.  Often a previous "crack" becomes plugged with solidified basalt, blocking the slow oozing process.  When the oozing stops, pressure starts building up in the magma chamber below.  Gases start to build up at the top of the chamber until one day when the seafloor suddenly splits open in a violent volcano-tectonic seaquake.

Squid, the favorite food of deep diving whales, breed and lay their eggs along the axis of these ridges because the molten rock heats the bottom waters to ~8° centigrade, the preferred temperature for hatching squid eggs. 

Deep diving whale feed almost exclusively on the squid.  This food preferences places them at great risk of one day being exposed to sudden changes in the surrounding water pressure when the seafloor is suddenly ripped open violently. Shortly after the seafloor cracks open releasing the immense pressure, the crest of the magma chamber collapse inward generating a sudden drop in ambient pressure that can be more hazardous to diving whales than the initial shock wave.  During the sudden lowering of pressure, the sinuses cavities might expand to 4-5 times their normal surface volume.

Events associated with the expansion/dilation  of magma chambers a few kilometers below the ridge axis can expose deep divers to dangerous changes in ambient pressure that could easily induce barotraumatic rupture in the head and middle ear sinuses of each member of the pod.

Scientists have never investigated seaquakes as a cause of whale strandings.  

Seaquakes are different depending on where they occur. If the seismic motion during an event is typically double-coupled and relatively slow, the water has time to flow toward the edges of the epicenter and thereby prevent pressure waves from building to extremes.  On the other hand, when a small section of the hard bottom explodes violently in response to a build up of pressure from a magma chamber a few km below the rock/water interface, alternating seismoacoustic pressure waves above the epicenter might exceed 280 decibels re 1 micro PA (14,500 psi) one meter off the bottom.

Scientists have known for decades that something ferocious was going on in the seafloor.  For example, none other than the Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, Professor Harald Sverdrup, wrote over 60 years ago on Page  543 of his famous book "Oceans" the following:

        "Waves in the sea caused by earthquakes are of two different types. In the first place a submarine earthquake may produce longitudinal oscillations that proceed at the velocity of sound waves. When reaching the surface, such longitudinal oscillations will be felt on board a ship as a shock that violently rocks the vessel. The shock may be so severe that the sailors believe their vessel has struck a rock, and several such reported “rocks” were indicated on early charts in waters where recent soundings have shown that the depth to the bottom is several thousand meters. There are many ship reports dealing with shock waves, particularly from regions in which seismological records show that submarine earthquakes are frequent."

Seismologist T. Neil Davis at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks describes an earthquake felt on board a ship as:  "Almost universally, reports by people on ships tell of having thought that the ship had run aground. Rumbling, grating sensations and horrifying rattling of ship superstructures are reported. The noises often appear to come mainly from the bottom of the ship, and there is fear that the ship is breaking up." (Alaska Science Forum). 

Seismologists J. Northrop and R. W. Raitt with  SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY in San Diego reported in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America that a series of distant (50-400 km) seaquakes in the Flores Sea, (at ~10 cps and lasting from 20 seconds to 4 minutes) overloaded the seismic recording equipment they were using to record 100-pound shots of TNT.

On the subject of TNT, a magnitude of 3.5 earthquake in the seabed corresponds to an explosive yield of about one-twentieth of a kiloton (link). There is roughly a 30-fold increase in seismic energy for each step up in magnitude.  A magnitude 5 seaquake releases as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb — the equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT. A magnitude 6 is equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs.  Alternatively, a magnitude 7 quake releases about a million times more energy than a magnitude 3 quake. (Source GNS Science)

The famous Harvard mathematician and Deputy Director for Goddard Space Flight Center, John Quann and two colleagues published an article in 1972 suggesting that a shock wave generated above the epicenter of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in the seafloor approached 6 kilobars (6,000 atmospheres) and raised the temperature of the water 3 degree kelvin for 20 miles in all directions.  (6 kilobars = 90,000 psi) 

 Magnitude naturally contributes to the level of danger faced by a diving pod but magnitude is not controlling.  What determines the potential for harm is the intensity of the pressure waves in the water.  Intensity is mainly determined by the SPEED of the seafloor displacement coupled with the DEPTH of the hypocenter where the main action takes place.  Naturally, the DISTANCE from the epicenter to the diving pod is also important.  Said differently for clarity, lightening-fast vertical jerking hypocentered very close the rock/water interface generates far more hydroacoustic energy in the water than does slower/deeper motion.  Magnitude serves more to determine the circumference of the danger zone, not the degree of hazard faced by any nearby pod.

The energy in these compressional waves (termed "Seaquakes" in 1896, T-phase waves in 1950, and now called H-phase waves) rapidly dissipate as they speed toward the ocean surface at 1,500 kilometers per second but can still exceed 200 psi 1,000 meters above the epicenter.

With each positive phase of 200 psi, the whales also need to deal with an equal but opposite 200 psi negative phase.  Earthquake dilations (hydroacoustic negative phases) could easily cause cavitation bubbles to form (bends) in the soft tissues and blood of the whales, especially after a relatively long dive.

A violent undersea volcanic eruption or the surface impact of a small meteoroid near a pod of whales would produce an identical affect and are thus part of this theory.  However, the Deafwhale Society is under the opinion  that explosive volcanic earthquakes exceed the other two sources by a ratio of twenty to one.

Just as it would be if a large group of scuba divers were suddenly exposed to rapid pressure changes from a nearby disturbance, a pod of diving whales caught off-guard by rapid and excessive changes in the surrounding water pressure during thrusting earthquakes are subject to barotraumatic injury in their head and middle ear sinuses when the rapid changes in pressure exceed the whale's ability to adjust

Of particular concern are the small air sacs (pterygoid sinuses) that surround each cochlea and help the whales sense sound direction underwater.

Oscillating pressure changes above the epicenter cause the volume of air in the head sinuses to expand and contract to the point of an injury that interrupts diving and causes biosonar failure. An earthquake-injured whale could hear sounds perfectly well, but would not be able to determine from which direction the sounds came. Ruptured sinuses would also disrupt feeding since the trauma would prevent the whales from diving to the depth of their prey due to extreme pain.

Diving-related injuries of this nature are far more common than one would imagine.  The injured pods are forced to remain on the surface until their sinuses heal and they can resume diving and feeding.  Recovery may occur in days, in weeks, or not at all depending on the degree of injury and the availability of food on or near the surface.

Offshore whales normally fix their location along the Mid Ocean Ridges by “listening” to the constant seismic rumble going on below them. Once the sinuses are ruptured and this tool is lost. And, so is the injured pod.

In a three knot current, the flow of the water offers six times the resistance when swimming upstream as it does when swimming downstream. Without a sense of direction on the part of the whale, this resistance factor would quickly turn their streamlined bodies head first and keep them pointed in a downstream direction in a similar fashion as how a weather vane always points the direction of the wind. In other words, the lost pod can not help but swim downstream in the path of least resistance. In fact, they are eventually stirred by reduced resistance into the fastest downstream flow where they remain until some other factor causes a change. Thus, the swim path of the wounded pod is controlled by the surface currents and the wind and nothing else--especially not a geomagnetic compass.

Beached whales are carried to the beach by the same force that carried each grain of sand to build the beach in the first place. 

If the surface winds and/or the tidal flow causes a change in the flow of near shore surface currents so will the swim path of the whales change.  The whales often change course parallel to the current if frightened by nearby ships or if chased aggressively by sharks, but this change is quickly reversed by the current.

Geographic land masses that extend out to see opposing the flow of current, like Cape Cod in the US and Golden Bay in New Zealand, serve as giant catching arms, guiding the non-navigating whales into a sand trap.

The wounded pod naturally attracts the attention of large oceanic sharks that move in to take any stragglers. Deep water sharks get big by feeding on wounded whales, not squid. The hungry predators dog these pods like wolves dog a herd of caribou, forcing them to huddle together for protection as they continue to swim in a general downstream direction.

Some pods recovery within a few days. Others within a few weeks. Those that do not recover stand an excellent chance that the surface currents will eventually carry them to a sandy beach, especially a sand trap inside a large catching-arm system that happens to be located downstream from a seismically-active feeding ground for the species in question

Why Do Sea Turtles Have Ears?

Did you ever hear of a deaf sea turtle? Do you have any idea what would happen to a deaf sea turtle? Exposure to excessive pressure waves generated by oil industry seismic airguns is the leading cause of sea turtle mortality and the US Government is covering it up!

click here to read about deaf sea turtles

CAPT David Williams

DEAFWHALE SOCIETY, INC.

Box 319, Dumaguete City

6200 Oriental Negros

Philippines

DUMAGUETE REAL ESTATE FOR SALE THE MARY CELESTE MYSTERY SOLVED