June 2, 2005— The actual ruptured ground that helped launch the deadliest tsunami in history may have been found and photographed deep under the sea near Sumatra.

Using a remotely operated deep-sea submersible vehicle at the abyssal depth of more than 14,700 feet, researchers were able to locate what looks like a freshly created cliff of soft clay measuring 10 feet high and more than 26 feet wide, just a small part of the upwardly thrust ground that created the tsunami.

That fact that the clay cliff is not slumped and eroded or covered with seafloor life are strong indications that it was created recently by a sudden shift in the seafloor, explained lead scientist Kate Moran of Rhode Island University.

The preliminary discovery comes from the first deep-sea expedition to the source of the Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by the Dec. 26, 2004, Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. In fact, it's one of the few deep-sea expeditions ever done in those waters, said Moran.

"It's probably one of the least studied margins," said Moran, referring to the zone where the Indian and Australian tectonic plate under the Indian Ocean collides with the Sunda plate and are forced down into the Earth.

It's the crumpling of the overriding Sunda plate from that collision that creates Sumatra and other volcanic islands of that region.

The Sumatra area is home to some of Earth's biggest earthquakes — as Dec. 26 proved — and most violent and famous volcanic eruptions, like the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. But its remote location and often difficult politics has made scientific study by scientists from Western nations extremely difficult, said James Austin, a seismic imaging expert at the University of Texas at Austin, and a member of the expedition.

The expedition consisted of 27 scientists from six nations and a wide range of scientific fields, including tsunami modelers, marine biologists, seismologists, geologists, seismologists and scientific visualization experts, Moran said.

"It's really wonderful," Moran said of the opportunity for the scientists to immediately collaborate and make new discoveries so quickly.

Earthquakes are believed to create tsunamis by suddenly pushing up a portion of the seafloor — so quickly that it sends a pulse of energy into the sea that propagates as a wave. When the wave reaches shallow water, it rises up and breaks — throwing massive amounts of water onto coastal areas.

To explore the deep-sea floor, the team used equipment provided by Geological Survey of Canada, and a unique deep-water remotely operated vehicle, run by Oceaneering International Inc.

The expedition was also filmed for the Discovery Channel documentary "Journey to the Heart of the Tsunami," which is scheduled to air later this year.