Ancient 'river bed' on floor of Gulf of Alaska baffles experts. How did it get there?

The bottom of the Gulf of Alaska has never been dry land, experts say, so how can there be evidence of an ancient “river bed” etched in the mud nearly 1,000 feet down?

Stranger still, why did core samples taken last week at the site reveal sand that was “dry to the touch”? asks Sarah Hardy, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

It’s a mystery perplexing scientists who explored the Gulf of Alaska for two weeks as part of a team backed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I saw what looks like a river bed on the seafloor... meandering just like rivers do on land, all the way to the edge of the Aleutian trench. But this area has never been above sea level, so how did it form?” Hardy asks in a report posted Saturday.

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