Mountains have been found at the bottom of the ocean. The extraordinary discovery was made by accident
Scientists have discovered new mountains at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru and Chile. The four peaks caused a sensation, and one of them is three times higher than the tallest building in the world.
A real treasure was found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have detected huge underwater mountains here, one of which is three times as high as the tallest building in the world. It rises 2.6 km above the seabed. For comparison, the Burj Khalifa is over 800 m high.
A unique discovery at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean
Scientists have discovered four gigantic seamounts rising above the seabed surrounding South America. They came across them accidentally after detecting “gravitational anomalies” caused by these peaks.
The highest of the discovered peaks rises over 2.6 km above the seabed, which makes it three times higher than the tallest building in the world, which is located in Dubai.
Underwater mountains off the coast of Peru and Chile
Scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor recently discovered and mapped four seamounts in the Pacific Ocean, 460 to 600 km off the coasts of Peru and Chile. The find was made during an expedition across the Eastern Pacific from Costa Rica to Chile.
The three Peruvian peaks are 1,591 m, 1,644 m and 6,145 ft 1,873 m respectively. However, the largest seamount found off the coast of Chile rises to 2,681 m above the ocean floor. Therefore, it is only 1.5 km away from the water surface. For comparison, the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa (Burj Khalifa), is 828 m high, while the Empire State Building is 380 m high.
The highest peak also has an area of approximately 450 square kilometers, which is roughly the size of New Orleans.
The giant underwater peaks are extinct volcanoes. They are so massive that they cause subtle changes in the height of the ocean surface, and so-called gravitational anomalies can be detected by satellites. In this case, the ocean surface bulges out just above the peaks.
Last year, the same research team discovered another massive seamount that was about twice the size of the Burj Khalifa. But there are few larger seamounts in the world.
According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the largest seamount in the world is the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it is about 4,205 meters above sea level, but it reaches down to the seafloor. Its actual height is approximately 10,211 m. It is therefore higher than Mount Everest.
