He Bermuda Triangle It is known as a large area of the North Atlantic located between Miami, Puerto Rico and the Bermuda Islands. In this maritime space, they have been described numerous disappearances of planes and ships, often attributed to mysterious causes. Legend has it that compasses fail, engines stop working, and planes disappear without a trace.
In fact, official reports indicate that it is one of busiest routes in the worldwhere storms, human errors and the density of air traffic explain a large part of these incidents.
However, the persistence of stories of lost planes has kept interest alive in what is happening beneath these waters. This fascination with the Bermuda Triangle is now being confronted new scientific questions which refer to the geological structure of the region, as some of its enigmas seem to be clarified by physical explanations rather than supernatural hypotheses.
Study reveals rock base that supports islands
A study published in Geophysical research letters identified under the island of Bermuda a rock layer 20 kilometers thick which explains its elevation and its ancient volcanic origin. The discovery took place at analyze seismic recordings obtained at a station installed on the island, where waves from several distant earthquakes showed anomalous behavior. This variation led researchers to deduce presence of an intermediate layer between the oceanic crust and the mantle which had never been described before in the region.
Scientists have turned to PS reception function to study how seismic waves propagate under the island. They examined 396 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 5.5 and detected four main interfacesthe deepest being the one which corresponds to this 20 kilometer layer. This structure was invisible in previous studies and does not coincide with usual models of oceanic crust. In practice, it acts as a rock cushion which reinforces the stability of the island.
This layer is linked to eruption that gave birth to Bermuda more than 30 million years ago. The magma that then rose from the mantle solidified beneath the crust and remained trapped as a base less dense than the surrounding rock. Thanks to this difference in density, the The island remains elevated about 500 meters above the sea. However, there is no visible volcanic activity or signs of an active thermal plume today, making this an exception in the Atlantic Ocean.
Seismic data showed unusual structure
The discovery suggests that no current heat source is needed to maintain seafloor elevation. This deep structure acts as a stable support that prevents the ground from sinking. In addition, geochemical analyzes indicate that the original magma came from a very deep region of the mantle linked to the Ancient Pangea. In this sense, the Bermuda phenomenon offers the opportunity to review the models which explain the formation of oceanic islands.
The work was carried out by researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science and Yale University. According to the seismologist William Frazar, According to Carnegie Science, the discovery shows “a layer beneath the crust, within the tectonic plate on which Bermuda sits.” Thus, the Bermuda Triangle ceases to be a space reserved for myth and begins to occupy a place in modern geology, where Science replaces guesswork to explain the uniqueness of the archipelago.
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