Scientists have found a "lost world" in the depths of the Pacific Ocean

A "lost world" has been found in the Pacific Ocean. Scientists are baffled by huge structures found deep under the ocean that "should not exist."

Legends tell us that our planet is dotted with lost lands, from Atlantis to Eldorado and Avalon, which once suffered a dramatic decline. While generally considered myths, a new study reveals evidence of an unknown world under the Pacific Ocean, DailyMail reports.

Scientists from ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found massive structures deep beneath the Pacific Ocean that they say "shouldn't exist."

The researchers suggest that this mysterious massif, which makes seismic waves in the region behave strangely, may be evidence of a lost land hundreds of millions of years ago.

According to current scientific theories, the anomalous material in the lower mantle, about 1,000 km underwater, should not be there.

Described as "major puzzles," the findings challenge "our current understanding of how the Earth works," the researchers emphasize.

"Determining the structure of the Earth is paramount to unraveling its internal dynamics. These findings suggest a more diverse origin for these anomalies in the planet's lower mantle," the scientists say.

The structure of the Earth and its features

It is known that the Earth consists of three layers – the crust, the mantle, and the core, which was later divided into "inner" and "outer." The problem is that no one can look inside the planet and drill deep enough to take rock samples from the mantle.

Instead, scientists study the speed of seismic waves – vibrations caused by earthquakes and explosions – as they pass through the planet's interior. Seismographic stations record these waves, and based on these records, experts can draw conclusions about the structure and composition of the Earth, experts say.

"It's very similar to how doctors use ultrasound to get images of organs, muscles, or veins inside the body without cutting it open," the ETH Zurich experts compared.

It is also well known that the Earth's lithosphere – its rocky outer shell, consisting of the upper part of the mantle and the crust – comprises about 15 tectonic plates. Seismic activity can be detected along tectonic plate boundaries, where the plates meet each other.

But in the distant past, large plates disappeared into the Earth's mantle through "subduction." According to scientists, this is a geologic process in which one edge of one plate sinks below the edge of another, and eventually, the entire plate can be lost.

In the past, seismologists have determined the position of submerged tectonic plates throughout the Earth's mantle, but they have always been in subduction zones.

New research

In the new study, scientists at ETH Zurich and Caltech used a computational technique called "full waveform inversion" that creates a three-dimensional image of the Earth using seismic wave data.

Scientists have discovered areas under the Pacific Ocean that look like remnants of submerged plates, but far from plate boundaries with no geologic evidence of past subduction.

According to experts, the Pacific Ocean is one big plate, so there shouldn't be any subduction material underneath. So the anomalies are not lost subduction plates.

The researchers present several theories behind the anomalies, which will require more information about the waves, not just their speed, to draw reliable conclusions.

They could be ancient, silica-rich material that has been there since the mantle formed about four billion years ago. They may also be zones where iron-rich rocks accumulate as a result of mantle movements over billions of years, the researchers suggest.

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