Site 10: Mdina A

Explored in 2006, site 10 was very shallow with an abundant ecosystem of invertebrates, including what appear to be; many small swimming mid-water arthropods, mobile mid-water nematode or polychaete worms, and many sponges with amphipods crawling amongst them. Several questions to be answered include: Is this freshwater, saltwater or brackish? How high above sea level is this cistern? Is this living ecosystem isolated, and if so for how long, if not how are these organisms getting in? Are planktonic forms getting in thru small passageways in the rock during saltwater intrusion from the ocean? This cistern has at least one passageway off the entry chamber, but was too shallow to access. A short video of what the robot saw can be found here.