Experts puzzled by hidden Bermuda structure ‘unlike anything else on Earth’
The Bermuda Triangle is legendary for its mystery and now researchers have just discovered something else strange in the area. They have spotted an enormous stone structure hidden beneath Bermuda that is ‘unlike anything else on Earth’. The 12.4 mile (20km) layer of rock sits underneath the ocean crust below Bermuda and no structure this thick has ever been found before, according to the team. (Picture: Getty)
The island sits on a raised area of ocean crust known as an ‘oceanic swell’, which lifts up above the surrounding area. Usually, these formations are typically associated with volcanic activity, but there is no recent evidence to show that a volcano is to blame for Bermuda’s strange geology. The island has not had an eruption in more than 31 million years and any consequences would have now subsided.
Recent research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggests the last eruption injected molten rock into the crust where it froze into a raft, lifting the island 500 metres (1,640 ft) out of the sea. To figure this out, they looked at recordings from a seismic station on Bermuda and then traced the passage of powerful but distant earthquakes as they made their way through the rock 31 miles (50km) beneath the island. (Picture: Getty)
By looking at where these seismic waves unexpectedly changed course, the researchers found the strangely thick layer of rock. Dr William Frazer, a seismologist at Carnegie Science, told Live Science: ‘Typically, you have the bottom of the oceanic crust and then it would be expected to be the mantle. But in Bermuda, there is this other layer that is emplaced beneath the crust, within the tectonic plate that Bermuda sits on.’ This find could be a major step towards cracking why Bermuda’s oceanic swell exists. Island chains like Hawaii typically form because of volcanic activity above mantle hotspots and this hot material pushes its way through the crust to create islands.
However, when the tectonic plate moves away from the hotspot, these swells gradually reduce over time. But since Bermuda has not had an eruption in such a long time, scientists couldn’t explain why its swell was still so high. As this newly–discovered layer is less dense than the surrounding rock, it both deflects passing seismic waves and pushes the island upwards. (Picture: Getty)
Dr Sarah Mazza, a geologist at Smith College in Massachusetts, who was not involved in the work, told Live Science: ‘There is still this material that is left over from the days of active volcanism under Bermuda that is helping to potentially hold it up as this area of high relief in the Atlantic Ocean. The fact that we are in an area that was previously the heart of the last supercontinent is, I think, part of the story of why this is unique.’ (Picture: Getty)
Research has previously found that old lava on Bermuda is low in the mineral silicon, which suggests that it came from a layer of the Earth that is very low in carbon. It likely came from deep in the Earth’s mantle when the supercontinent Pangea opened up to form the Atlantic Ocean 900 to 300 million years ago. The researchers are now examining other islands to see if there are any other similar layers. (Picture: Getty) Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
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