The Bermuda Triangle mystery is one of the most sensationalized topics on our planet. It has inspired many thriller movies and continues to fascinate science nerds. The mystery itself refers to the supposed high number of ships and planes that vanished without explanation in a region between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, fueling legends of sea monsters, aliens, or Atlantis. However, official sources attribute these disappearances to natural factors and human error, debunking supernatural theories.
Now, in the latest development, scientists have discovered an enormous, 12.4-mile-thick (20-kilometer) rock layer buried below the oceanic crust under Bermuda, a feature unlike anything found anywhere else on Earth. The structure is so unusual that it’s forcing geologists to rethink what lies beneath one of the Atlantic’s most enigmatic regions.
“Normally, once you pass the oceanic crust, you’d expect to hit the mantle,” said William Frazer, a seismologist at Carnegie Science in Washington, DC, and lead author of the study. “But under Bermuda, there’s an entirely different layer sitting beneath the crust, inside the tectonic plate itself.”
A Clue to Bermuda’s Biggest Geological Puzzle
The origin of this massive layer remains uncertain, but scientists believe it could finally explain a long-standing mystery: why Bermuda sits atop an elevated oceanic swell. The ocean floor beneath the island rises about 1,640 feet (500 meters) higher than the surrounding seabed, yet there has been no volcanic activity there for roughly 31 million years.
According to the research team, Bermuda’s last eruption may have injected mantle rock into the crust, where it cooled and solidified. This frozen material now acts like a buoyant “raft,” holding the ocean floor up long after volcanic activity ceased.
Why Bermuda Doesn’t Behave Like Other Islands
Island chains such as Hawaii are typically formed by mantle hotspots, columns of hot rock rising from deep within the Earth. These hotspots create volcanoes and lift the crust, but once tectonic plates drift away, the swell usually collapses.
Bermuda, however, breaks this rule.
Despite millions of years without eruptions, its oceanic swell hasn’t subsided. While scientists debate what’s happening beneath the island, there’s no evidence of active volcanism today, making the newly discovered structure all the more puzzling.
How Scientists Found the Hidden Layer
To uncover what lies beneath Bermuda, Frazer and co-author Jeffrey Park, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Yale University, analyzed seismic waves from powerful earthquakes around the world. These waves were recorded by a seismic station on Bermuda and allowed the researchers to map Earth’s interior down to about 31 miles (50 kilometers) below the island.
When the seismic waves suddenly changed speed, the scientists identified the presence of an unusually thick, low-density rock layer, something never observed beneath other oceanic regions. Their findings were published on November 28 in Geophysical Research Letters.
A Relic from Earth’s Ancient Past?
Geologists not involved in the study believe this buried material could be leftover from Bermuda’s volcanic past. Sarah Mazza, a geologist at Smith College, says the structure may still be supporting the island’s elevated position in the Atlantic.
Mazza’s own research suggests Bermuda’s lava is unusually low in silica and rich in carbon, a sign that the material originated deep within the mantle. That carbon may have been pushed downward hundreds of millions of years ago during the formation of the supercontinent Pangea.
Unlike islands in the Pacific or Indian oceans, Bermuda sits in the Atlantic, a relatively young ocean that formed when Pangea split apart. That ancient tectonic history may be the key reason Bermuda is so geologically unique.
“The fact that this region was once the heart of a supercontinent is probably a big part of why we’re seeing something so unusual,” Mazza said.
Is Bermuda Truly One of a Kind?
Frazer is now investigating other islands worldwide to determine whether similar hidden layers exist, or if Bermuda is truly an Earthly outlier.
“Studying extreme places like Bermuda helps us understand what’s normal and what’s rare inside our planet,” he said. “And sometimes, the strangest places reveal the most important clues about how Earth really works.”
(This article is intended for your general information only. Zee News does not vouch for its accuracy or reliability.)
About the Author
