MYSTERY-HUNTERS have another Bermuda Triangle puzzle to chew over – a huge hidden structure lurking below the region.
Scientists have probed the area below Bermuda and found something “unlike anything else on Earth”.
The Bermuda Triangle is an urban legend linked to an area in the North Atlantic Ocean that’s roughly between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico.
It’s believed to be a paranormal region where aircraft, ships, and people disappear in unusual circumstances.
Scientists say that’s simply not the case – but they have uncovered a genuine mystery beneath the island of Bermuda.
By probing deep underground, scientists were able to find a mysterious 12.4-mile thick layer of rock.
“Typically, you have the bottom of the oceanic crust and then it would be expected to be the mantle,” said seismologist William Frazer, of Carnegie Science, speaking to Live Science.
“But in Bermuda, there is this other layer that is emplaced beneath the crust, within the tectonic plate that Bermuda sits on,” Frazer, who led the study, continued.
This layer of crust sits beneath Bermuda between the crust and mantle.
Bermuda is considered a “geological anomaly” that is very different from other volcanic islands.
These islands typically sit on a large seafloor bulge called a bathymetric swell.
And usually, heat rising from a hot rock plume makes the plate above it bulge.
Bermuda does sit on a swell, but scientists have been unable to find signs of a hot plume.
On top of that, there hasn’t been an active volcano there in over 30 million years.
“Unlike other prominent bathymetric swells, such as Hawaii, it lacks age-progressive volcanism, a deeply rooted mantle plume, and modern volcanism,” the study authors note.
So to investigate this, scientists used recordings of earthquakes to create an image of what’s underneath the island.
They were taken from a seismic station on Bermuda that records even very distant earthquakes around the world.
And the scientists were able to locate areas underground where the waves from the earthquakes changed suddenly.
This was how they were able to reveal the mysterious thick layer of rock.
This layer – less dense than the surrounding rock – is about two or three times thicker than what is usually found at other ocean islands.
The researchers think that this “underplating” layer is made up of magma that cooled into a less dense type of rock.
And the difference in density provides enough buoyancy to hold up the large swell.
“This thick layer beneath the crust likely was emplaced when Bermuda was volcanically active 30–35 million years ago and could support the bathymetric swell,” the study notes.
Now the researchers want to find out if any other such structures exist beneath ocean islands around the world – or if Bermuda is totally unique.
“Understanding a place like Bermuda, which is an extreme location, is important to understand places that are less extreme,” Frazer told Live Science.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/15647333/bermuda-triangle-island-structure-hidden-mystery-volcano/