Chapter 827

Although the George Crater was discovered a long time ago, due to its harsh geographical conditions and extreme climatic conditions, not many scientists have explored the interior of the George Crater. Only a few oases were found on the periphery to investigate the ecology there. However, according to the recently released satellite scans, they found that in the center of the George Crater, there is a larger oasis covering nearly 2,000 square kilometers.

This is almost equivalent to the area of ​​a small island on the sea, but this "island" is isolated by the endless desert.

Although no one has ever reached the oasis, almost all researchers speculate that there may be a very unique ecosystem in this oasis.

Because this unexplored oasis in the center of the George Crater has unique geographical features and has been isolated from the outside world for a long time, it may have bred many unknown species and ecological balance, which makes the entire scientific expedition team feel extremely excited and expectant.

After they packed up, they set off immediately. Because of the tug-of-war with Tiera, they had wasted a lot of time, so they had to act quickly and walk through an extremely rugged corridor at the bottom of the crater when the wind and sand were less in the early morning.

This is a passage dug by the Australian aborigines who used to live in the nearby area.

The original name of the George Ring should be "Pasabiondini", which means "the cradle of the goddess of night" in the language of the Australian aborigines. In the hearts of the Australian aborigines, this is a sacred mountain and the birthplace of all Australian aboriginal gods.

The corridor they are walking on now is called "Dini Rodriguez", which means "the corridor of the goddess".

Legend has it that all Australian aboriginal gods came to the world through this corridor, and will eventually return to the cradle of the goddess of night through this corridor.

In the past, when the local Australian aborigines worshiped this mountain, they only needed to tie the offerings to the living sacrifices and then let the living sacrifices walk into the deep and dark corridor.

These offerings and living sacrifices that entered the corridor would disappear without a trace.

So in the 1780s, when the Ansa colonists first set foot on it, they were full of curiosity and greed for this area, especially for the culture and legends of the local aboriginal people.

They heard the legend of the "Dini Rodriguez" tunnel, and the strange and mysterious description aroused their great interest.

They hoped to discover the secrets of the tunnel. Of course, more importantly, they hoped to find the lost tributes in the legend -

According to the description of the local indigenous people, their ancient ancestors would use a soft yellow metal to beat into ornaments and hang them on the living sacrifices to show respect for the gods.

So, in 1791, an expedition team composed of Ansa colonists was sent to the George Ring Mountains to explore the "Dini Rodriguez" tunnel.

The expedition team consisted of experienced explorers, local indigenous guides, and nobles at the time.

They brought enough supplies and equipment to prepare for a long-term investigation of this mysterious tunnel to find the soft yellow metal sent into it as a tribute -

which was considered gold by the colonists at the time.

Out of enthusiasm for gold, this expedition team composed of colonists resolutely stepped into the "Goddess's Corridor" to find the gold accumulated by the local indigenous people in the corridor over the past hundreds or even thousands of years, and then--

No one has ever seen the archaeological team again.

In the nearly 100 years since then, this "Goddess's Corridor" has been called a forbidden area for explorers, and no expedition team has ever walked out of here.

It was not until 1957 that a British explorer named George Brady, with the help of modern equipment, spent a week to finally walk through this infamous "Goddess's Corridor".

George Brady's expedition became the first and only record in modern history of completely exploring and thoroughly passing through the "Dini Rodriguez" corridor, entering the interior of the crater, and successfully returning.

Therefore, this crater was also named "George Crater" after George Brady.

According to reports by George Brady and subsequent explorers and science festivals, this so-called "Goddess's Corridor" is not a corridor that leads directly to the inner circle of the crater as people imagine, but countless caves in the mountain that are spread throughout the entire mountain.

These caves are interconnected, like spider webs or tree roots and branches, covering the entire body of George Crater.

The cave system here presents an incredible complexity.

As Brady and subsequent explorers went deeper, they found that these caves were not only thousands of them, but also extremely complex and tortuous in their connections with each other.

Each cave is like an independent maze, full of dangers and naturally formed obstacles, such as narrow passages, steep drops, sliding stone slabs and dripping water from time to time, making exploration extremely difficult and dangerous.

Explorers often need to climb, crawl or even swim through half-submerged parts to move forward.

Some areas have deep pools formed by long-term accumulation of water, which are so cold that people can hardly stay for a long time.

In addition, the air in the cave is thin in some enclosed areas, making breathing difficult, while the lack of light increases the uncertainty and danger of exploration.

However, with the help of modern human technology, in 1973, a joint address development team jointly formed by the Australian National Geographic Exploration Institute, the Royal Institute of Technology and the University of Sydney used explosives to directly blast out a passage from the outside of the crater to the inside of the crater -

shortening the journey that originally took about four days to three hours.

This newly opened passage allowed scientists to rapidly develop their research and exploration of George Crater.

In 1975, after the new passage was blasted, the first scientific expedition led by the Australian National Ecological Research Organization successfully arrived at three small oases on the edge of the George Crater and conducted a month-long ecological and biodiversity survey here.

To the surprise of scientists, this oasis not only has a wide variety of biological species, but also has many species that have never been recorded in the scientific community before. The biodiversity here is unexpectedly rich, covering a variety of unique plants and insects, as well as some small mammals, and these biological populations have adapted to a very special ecological environment.

In addition, geological and hydrological studies inside the oasis revealed an independent water circulation system that had apparently developed in isolation for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, forming a natural ecosystem that was almost completely isolated from the outside world. This unique environment also provides valuable data for studying climate change in other distant periods on Earth.

With this groundbreaking discovery, the international scientific community's attention to George Crater has increased dramatically. For several consecutive years, scientific teams from all over the world have flocked to the site, bringing advanced equipment and technology, and research work in various fields has been carried out one after another, from geological structure analysis to DNA sequencing.