The Bermuda Triangle might be one of the world’s greatest mysteries, but scientists have just discovered something even more baffling in the area.
Researchers have spotted an enormous stone structure hidden beneath Bermuda that is ‘unlike anything else on Earth’.
The 12.4 mile (20km) layer of rock sits underneath the ocean crust below Bermuda.
No structure this thick has ever been found before, according to the team – who say it could help to answer one of the biggest questions about the famous island.
Bermuda sits on a raised area of ocean crust known as an ‘oceanic swell’, which lifts it above the surrounding area.
These formations are typically associated with volcanic activity, but there is no evidence to show that a volcano is to blame for Bermuda’s strange geology.
There hasn’t been an eruption on the island for more than 31 million years, and any volcanic swelling should have subsided over that time.
The new discovery suggests the last eruption injected molten rock into the crust where it froze into a raft, lifting the island 500 metres (1,640 ft) out of the sea.
Scientists have discovered a vast rock structure beneath Bermuda (pictured) that is ‘unlike anything else on Earth’
Scientists found the raft of less–dense rock by tracking how seismic waves from distant earthquakes were deflected by the materials beneath the island
In a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers looked at recordings from a seismic station on Bermuda.
They traced the passage of powerful but distant earthquakes as they made their way through the rock 31 miles (50km) beneath the island.
By looking at where these seismic waves unexpectedly changed course, the researchers found the strangely thick layer of rock.
Dr William Frazer, a seismologist at Carnegie Science, told Live Science: ‘Typically, 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.’
For geologists, this could represent a major step towards cracking Bermuda’s biggest mystery.
While Bermuda is famous for its record of unexplained ship and aircraft disappearances, the bigger mystery for scientists is why its oceanic swell exists.
Island chains like Hawaii typically form because of volcanic activity above mantle hotspots – places where hot molten rock from the mantle rises towards the surface.
Scientists found a 12.4–mile–thick (20 km) layer of rock that sits underneath the ocean crust below Bermuda and lifts the island 500 metres (1,640 ft) out of the sea
Bermuda’s most famous mystery is its history of shipwrecks, such as that of the SS Sapona (pictured), but scientists say the bigger puzzle is why the crust beneath the island is pushed so high above the surrounding terrain
As this hot material pushes its way through the crust to create islands, it also lifts the tectonic plate upwards to create an oceanic swell.
When the tectonic plate moves away from the hotspot, these swells gradually subside over time.
Since Bermuda has no evidence of volcanic activity for the last 31 million years, scientists couldn’t explain why its swell was still so high.
However, since this newly–discovered layer is less dense than the surrounding rock, it both deflects passing seismic waves and pushes the island upwards.
Previous research has found that old lava on Bermuda is low in the mineral silicon, which suggests that it came from a layer of the Earth that is very low in carbon.
This carbon likely emerged from deep in the Earth’s mantle when the supercontinent Pangea opened up to form the Atlantic Ocean 900 to 300 million years ago.
This could be what makes Bermuda so different from hotspot islands in the Pacific or Indian oceans, which are comparably much older oceans.
The researchers are now examining other islands around the world to see if there are any similar layers, or if Bermuda is truly one of a kind.
Dr Frazer says: ‘Understanding a place like Bermuda, which is an extreme location, is important to understand places that are less extreme and gives us a sense of what are the more normal processes that happen on Earth and what are the more extreme processes that happen.’
Bermuda’s more famous mystery is why so many ships seemingly vanish without a trace within the region known as the Bermuda Triangle.
Located between Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, the Bermuda Triangle’s long history of deadly wrecks has prompted endless supernatural speculation.
But scientists now say that this may also have an entirely natural, scientific explanation.
Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer from the University of Southampton, says that the Bermuda Triangle’s record of disappearances is due to ‘rogue waves’.
Otherwise known as extreme storm waves, these are unpredictable walls of water that can reach twice the height of the surrounding waves.
Towering up to 100 feet (30 metres) in the air, rogue waves are abnormally steep and can hit unexpectedly from directions other than the prevailing wind.
According to Dr Boxall, a large ship trapped by one of these killer swells could ‘sink in a matter of two or three minutes’.