Scientists Are Perplexed By The Bermuda Triangle After An Unexpected Discovery

Even though we live in a hypermodern world, many aspects on this planet remain completely mysterious. A blood-red waterfall in Antarctica, Australia's bubblegum-pink lake, and the notorious Bermuda Triangle are just a few examples of inexplicable occurrences.

The Bermuda Triangle, sometimes referred to as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined area in the North Atlantic Ocean that is roughly surrounded by Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Florida. According to Go To Bermuda, over 50 ships and 20 aircraft are reported to have vanished in the supposedly "paranormal" region now known as the Bermuda Triangle over the course of several centuries.

Weather, rogue waves, and other fantastical notions have all been offered as explanations over the years, despite the fact that it is supposedly no longer perilous because modern ships, aircraft, and weather forecasts guarantee safe passage across this portion of the ocean. For instance, Charles Berlitz proposed that the legendary lost island of Atlantis was to blame for all the strange events in his best-selling book The Bermuda Triangle (1974).

However, after making a rather unexpected finding, the Bermuda Triangle has once again left experts completely perplexed. Beneath the island of Bermuda, scientists have discovered something "unlike anything else on Earth."

They discovered an enigmatic 12.4-mile-thick stratum of rock that lies just beneath the marine crust by delving deeply underground. By examining seismic waves from far-off earthquakes captured at a station on Bermuda, Dr. William Frazer, a seismologist at Carnegie Science in Washington, DC, and Professor Jeffrey Park of Yale University made the discovery.

A interesting discovery about the Bermuda Triangle

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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

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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."

According to specialists, 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

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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