MOUNTAINS 3 TO 4 TIMES LARGER THAN EVEREST FOUND UNDER OCEAN

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Tue 13 June 2023:

Deep below the Earth, scientists discovered mountains with peaks three to four times taller than Mount Everest.

Experts discovered these extraordinarily large “mountains” in the boundary between the core and mantle, around 1,800 miles (nearly 2,900 kilometers) deep, using seismology centers in Antarctica.

These massive subsurface mountain ranges, known as ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZ), had eluded scientists for years until earthquakes and atomic explosions generated enough seismic data for them to notice them, according to the BBC.

To make sense of how big these mountains are, Mount Everest is around 5.5 miles high (8.8 kilometres) from the surface, while the underground mountains are said to be over 24 miles (38 kilometres) in height.

“Analysing 1000’s of seismic recordings from Antarctica, our high-definition imaging method found thin anomalous zones of material at the CMB [core-mantle boundary] everywhere we probed,” Arizona State University geophysicist Edward Garnero said in a statement.

“The material’s thickness varies from a few kilometres to 10’s of kilometres. This suggests we are seeing mountains on the core, in some places up to 5 times taller than Mt. Everest.”

How did these mountains form?

One possible explanation given by the scientists is that these ancient formations were created when oceanic crusts were forced into Earth’s interior.

They argue that it might have begun with tectonic plates slipping down into the Earth’s mantle and sinking to the core-mantle boundary.

These then slowly spread out to form an assortment of structures, leaving a trail of both mountains and blobs. This would mean both are made from ancient oceanic crust: a combination of basalt rock and sediments from the ocean floor, albeit transformed by intense heat and pressure.

What does the discovery entail?

The study seeks to argue that these underground peaks may play a critical role in how heat escapes the Earth’s core.

The core is responsible for generating Earth’s magnetic field and some of the material from it can even be ejected up to the Earth’s surface during volcanic eruptions.

“Seismic investigations, such as ours, provide the highest resolution imaging of the interior structure of our planet, and we are finding that this structure is vastly more complicated than once thought,” study co-author and University of Alabama geoscientist Samantha Hansen said in a statement.

“Our research provides important connections between shallow and deep Earth structure and the overall processes driving our planet.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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