The Bermuda Triangle has fueled the imagination of conspiracy theorists and the paranormal for over half a century. Now, apparently, the researchers managed to solve the mystery of one of the most mysterious places on the planet and find out what caused the disappearance of planes and ships in this area.
Aliens, wormholes, other dimensions and even Atlantis were all popular explanations for a phenomenon that began to interest humanity in the 50s of the last century, when air travel became more common. Some 300 ships and 75 aircraft are said to have disappeared between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. Many of them have not yet been found. One of the most famous disappearances is the loss of the USS Cyclops, an American ship built for the US Navy a few years before the outbreak of World War I. The ship entered the "triangle" on March 4, 1914 and since then no one has seen it again. More than 300 crew members were on board.
Another well-known case involves five US Avenger bombers. In December 1945, Link 19 went on a training mission over the Bermuda Triangle, but none of the aircraft returned. The compasses of military vehicles refused to work and 14 pilots circled over the ocean until they ran out of fuel. The 13-man crew sent to look for the missing did not return home either.
In the documentary Draining the Bermuda Traingle, a group of researchers revealed new details about the mysterious territory. To debunk the myths, scientists used the technology of the so-called "sonar mapping": sound waves reflected from the ocean floor and returned back. Thanks to this, it was possible to find out the shape and depth of the relief.
As it turned out, Bermuda is located on the top of a huge sea mountain, which is more than 4 thousand meters high. Presumably, it was formed as a result of volcanic eruptions that occurred at an early stage in the development of the Atlantic. The volcano erupted and gradually rose above the ocean surface until it became dead 30 million years ago. Wind and rain destroyed its summit to a flat plateau. As sea levels rose after the Ice Age, Bermuda became a small land mass atop an isolated sea mountain.
The study showed that the area of the triangle is filled with "breaks" - large limestone formations that for millions of years "forged" molluscs and algae. During low tide, the water may slightly expose their sharp edges, but during the rest of the time they cannot be noticed. The structure of the formations is so rigid that it can easily break the hull of the ship. Struan Smith of the Bermuda Museum of Natural History stated:
Promotional video:
They are more noticeable when waves rise during storms. The most dangerous time is a quiet, calm day. At this moment, they cannot be found.
This theory explains why many ships within the Bermuda Triangle disappeared under favorable weather conditions. The documentary also explains the huge craters and whirlpools that can pull large and heavy objects to the bottom of the ocean. The sinkholes are believed to have formed when the water level was lower and acid rain created holes in the limestone until the ceilings collapsed, leaving huge gaping chasms. They became the cause of the vortex movement of water.
Moreover, according to scientists, the territory of the Bermuda Triangle is a "weather hive" where hurricanes and storms can create huge and bizarre waves. Hexagonal clouds with straight edges along the perimeter of the triangle can also cause aircraft crashes. They create turbulence zones and powerful air currents, the speed of which reaches 275 kilometers per hour. No existing aircraft is able to cope with such conditions - it is literally thrown into the water.
The wind, provoked by the hexagonal clouds, literally explodes the air and leads to the appearance of 40-meter waves in the ocean.
It is noteworthy that the documentary came out a week after the loud statement of the Australian scientist Karl Kruzelsky. According to him, no mystery simply exists, and all accidents are a combination of human error, bad weather and the theory of probability. The scientist added:
The number of disappeared objects in the Bermuda Triangle is the same as anywhere else in the world.
Yan Kuczinsky