For decades, the Bermuda Triangle has been among the world’s biggest mysteries, with some claiming that dozens of ships and aircraft have disappeared without explanation.
Scientists say they might be a step closer to solving the mystery after they found craters off the coast of Norway, according to The Sunday Times. Obviously, since the craters were found nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle, it’s just a theory.
The series of craters, specifically, were discovered at the bottom of the Barents Sea. The craters, measuring 800 meters wide by 45 meters deep, are believed to have been created by methane building in sediments on the seafloor near Norway’s coast. The gas then leaks through the sea bed and to the surface of the water.
“Multiple giant craters exist on the sea floor in an area in the west-central Barents Sea ... and are probably a cause of enormous blowouts of gas,” scientists from the Arctic University of Norway told the Sunday Times. “The crater area is likely to represent one of the largest hot spots for shallow marine methane release in the Arctic.”
According to News Ltd., Igor Yelstov from the Trofimuk Institute posed a similar theory last year.
“There is a version (of theories) that the Bermuda Triangle is a consequence of gas hydrates reactions,” he said. “They start to actively decompose with methane ice turning into gas. It happens in an avalanche-like way, like a nuclear reaction, producing huge amounts of gas.”
“That makes the ocean heat up and ships sink in its waters mixed with a huge proportion of gas.”
Researchers are now looking to determine if the bursting of these gas bubbles is sufficient to sink ships. (But what about the airplanes?)
The Bermuda Triangle is located in a section of the North Atlantic Ocean. About 20 planes and 50 ships have disappeared in the region over the past century.
