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Scientists have discovered two colossal mountains buried deep beneath Earth’s surface, towering over 100 times the height of Mount Everest. These structures were found at the boundary between Earth’s core and mantle beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean, standing at a staggering height of approximately 1,000 kilometers, dwarfing Everest’s 8.8 kilometers.
This makes them at least half a billion years old and perhaps as ancient as the birth of the Earth itself, approximately four billion years ago. This study, which is published in Nature, investigates the large low seismic velocity provinces, or LLSVPs.
The mountains have been discovered based on seismic data from earthquake shockwaves, like sound waves through a bell, ripple through Earth’s interior. Lead researcher Dr. Arwen Deuss of Utrecht University explained, “Seismic waves slow down significantly in these regions, indicating they are hotter and denser than the surrounding mantle.
The LLSVPs are found in what scientists refer to as a “slab graveyards,” where tectonic plates sink through a process called subduction. Surrounding the LLSVPs are remnants of Earth’s crust, dragged down nearly 3,000 kilometers beneath the surface.
One of the most astonishing discoveries was no damping or energy loss while seismic waves moved through LLSVPs. Dr. Co-researcher Sujania Talavera-Soza noted that “we expected the waves to lose strength from the high temperature, but surprisingly they were hearing louder.” This unusual behavior is hinting that the mountains’ structure has a minimum of large mineral grains compared with material surrounding them, indicating their extreme age.
The research also leads to questions over the behavior of the mantle. Traditionally believed to be always in motion, this lack of mixing in these areas suggests that LLSVPs have been unmoved for billions of years.
Some scientists speculate that the LLSVPs are the leftover fragments of Theia-a Mars-sized planet that collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, and produced the Moon. Simulations predict that parts of the dense material from Theia may have sunk to the bottom of the Earth’s mantle, forming the LLSVPs.
This discovery challenges long-held views about Earth’s interior and tectonic processes. According to Dr. Deuss, “These structures hold the key to understanding Earth’s ancient history and may even reveal clues about the planet’s formation.”
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