By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
Published: 8:00AM BST 01 Aug 2010
A 3-D radar image, using false colour, of the undersea river channel where it enters the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait. Photo: University of Leeds
Researchers working in the Black Sea have found currents of water 350 times greater than the River Thames flowing along the sea bed, carving out channels much like a river on the land.
The undersea river, which is up to 115ft deep in places, even has rapids and waterfalls much like its terrestrial equivalents.
If found on land, scientists estimate it would be the world's sixth largest river in terms of the amount of water flowing through it.
The discovery could help explain how life manages to survive in the deep ocean far out to sea away from the nutrient rich waters that are found close to land, as the rivers carry sediment and nutrients with them.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/7920006/Undersea-river-discovered-flowing-on-sea-bed.html