Scientists baffled by massive structures found deep beneath the ocean

Legends of lost lands like Atlantis have captivated humanity for centuries. While long considered mythical, new scientific findings suggest that a hidden world may actually exist — deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. Researchers from ETH Zurich and Caltech have discovered massive structures in Earth’s lower mantle that defy existing geological theories.

Using seismic wave data, scientists detected anomalous material about 600 miles beneath the Pacific Ocean. These findings challenge established beliefs about Earth’s internal structure. The material, which behaves strangely under seismic waves, could be a remnant of a lost land from hundreds of millions of years ago. “These findings suggest more diverse origins for these anomalies,” the researchers stated.

Earth's interior consists of three main layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. However, no one has ever seen the mantle directly due to its extreme depth. Instead, scientists rely on seismic waves generated by earthquakes to study the planet’s interior. By analyzing how these waves travel, they can infer the structure and composition of hidden layers.

Seismic wave analysis is akin to how doctors use ultrasound to examine organs without surgery. “This is very similar to how doctors use ultrasound to image organs, muscles, or veins inside the body without opening it up,” ETH Zurich explained. These waves revealed unexpected material deep within the mantle that doesn't align with existing geological processes.

The researchers used a method called full-waveform inversion to create a 3D image of the Earth's interior. This advanced technique helped them identify areas below the Pacific Ocean that appeared to contain remains of submerged tectonic plates. However, these structures were far from known subduction zones, raising new questions about their origin. Subduction is a geological process where one tectonic plate is forced beneath another, eventually sinking into the Earth's mantle. Over millions of years, entire plates have disappeared this way. But what the scientists discovered beneath the Pacific Ocean was different — the Pacific plate should not have any subduction material beneath it, making the finding even more perplexing.

The researchers proposed a few possible explanations for these anomalies. One theory is that they could be ancient, silica-rich materials dating back to the formation of the mantle four billion years ago. Another hypothesis suggests they might be zones where iron-rich rocks have accumulated over billions of years due to mantle movements.

“It’s like a doctor who has been examining blood circulation with ultrasound for decades and finds arteries exactly where he expects them,” said Professor Andreas Fichtner of ETH Zurich. “Then if you give him a new, better examination tool, he suddenly sees an artery in the buttock that doesn’t really belong there. That’s exactly how we feel about the new findings.” The discovery of these mysterious structures could reshape our understanding of Earth's internal dynamics. The presence of such anomalies hints at processes that remain poorly understood by modern science. The researchers emphasized the importance of continuing to develop new seismic imaging tools to uncover more about the Earth's hidden layers.

As scientists continue to investigate, the true nature of these mysterious structures remains unclear. Whether they are remnants of ancient geological formations or something entirely unexpected, one thing is certain — Earth still holds many secrets beneath its surface. “Our research underscores the critical role of full waveform inversion as an indispensable tool in mantle exploration,” the team concluded in their report.

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