Scientists Are Perplexed By The Bermuda Triangle After An Unexpected Discovery
"We are in an area that was previously the heart of the last supercontinent"
For decades, the Bermuda Triangle has lived off mystery, missing ships, and a whole lot of dramatic guessing. But this time, the real plot twist is under the ocean, not in some spooky folklore.
Scientists monitoring how sound waves changed as they traveled through rock as deep as 31 miles under Bermuda found an extra layer sitting inside the tectonic plate, thicker than anything seen beneath other islands. Bermuda, which should have settled back down long ago after volcanic activity stopped about 31 million years ago, is still floating high above the surrounding seafloor, with a swell that refuses to fade.
And the scariest part is that the usual explanations do not fit, leaving the triangle’s “logic” more perplexed than ever.
A interesting discovery about the Bermuda Triangle
Bettmann / Contributor / Getty ImagesThat strange buoyant layer is what makes Bermuda behave like it’s still holding its breath, even after the last volcanic outburst supposedly stopped 31 million years ago.
In an interview with Live Science, Frazer stated, "Usually, 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," he continued.
The two discovered this new layer, which is about twice as thick as anything found beneath other islands, by monitoring how these waves changed as they moved through rock up to 31 miles below the island. Bermuda is now elevated above the surrounding ocean basin by an oceanic swell, which is a wide elevation in the seafloor.
Volcanic activity is typically the cause of these swells. Once a tectonic plate wanders away from one of these hotspots, the uplift generally fades, and the seafloor lowers back down, but Bermuda violates that pattern.
Although there hasn't been any volcanic activity on the tropical island for around 31 million years, the swell beneath it won't go away
VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
Meanwhile, the ocean swell keeps the island elevated by about 500 meters, even though the usual hotspot pattern should have let the seafloor sink.
Even the density clue, a layer about 1.5% less dense than the upper mantle, raises more questions than it answers about what is actually propping everything up.
There is no indication of any active activity maintaining the crust's elevation, nor is there the mantle plume you would anticipate beneath a volcanic island. Rather, a layer that is roughly 1.5% less dense than the surrounding upper mantle has been found by experts.
Because the layer essentially floats inside the mantle, pressing upward and keeping the crust afloat, this modest buoyancy is important. "Typically, you have the bottom of the oceanic crust and then it would be expected to be the mantle," Frazer explained.
"But in Bermuda, there is this other layer that is emplaced beneath the crust, within the tectonic plate that Bermuda sits on."Molten rock may have been poured into the crust during the last volcanic outburst 31 million years ago, where it froze in place. The ocean floor is now raised by about 500 meters due to this frozen debris.
Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico form the approximate boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle, which is located in the North Atlantic Ocean
Ashley Hense / Getty Images
And once you connect Bermuda to the classic Triangle boundaries near Florida and Puerto Rico, the whole “why” behind the region gets weirder by the minute.
The publication was informed by Sarah Mazza, a Smith College geologist who was not engaged in the study, that she has been studying Bermuda's volcanic past.
"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."Mazza thinks that between 900 million and 300 million years ago, when the supercontinent Pangea formed, this carbon was driven deep into the Earth. "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," she added.
As usual, you can drop your thoughts about this discovery in the comments section. Q
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