Scientists have uncovered mysterious remnants of Earth’s ancient crust, dubbed ‘sunken worlds,’ buried deep within the mantle. This breakthrough, published in Scientific Reports, was made possible through a revolutionary mapping technique that provides an unprecedented view of our planet’s interior.
Unlike previously known subducted slabs tectonic plates that sink into the mantle at collision zones these newfound anomalies are located in unexpected places, including beneath the western Pacific Ocean, far from any known tectonic activity. How these fragments reached such locations remains a puzzle.
The discovery was enabled by full-waveform inversion, a cutting-edge technique that analyzes earthquake waves to create a highly detailed map of Earth’s inner layers. The computational power needed for this research came from the Piz Daint supercomputer in Switzerland, one of the world’s most advanced.
What Are These Mysterious Blobs?
Scientists have several theories regarding the origins of these anomalies They could be remnants of Earth’s early crust, formed nearly 4 billion years ago. Alternatively, they might be dense material that accumulated in the mantle over the last few hundred million years.
While the seismic properties of these structures resemble subducted slabs, researchers caution against hasty conclusions. “We don’t know exactly what they are,” said Thomas Schouten, a researcher at ETH Zurich, emphasizing the need for further study.
This discovery challenges conventional models of Earth’s interior and opens new avenues for research into planetary formation. Scientists now hope to unravel the origins of these “sunken worlds” and their role in shaping Earth’s geological history.
