Recently, many seismic sensors have recorded the phenomenon for the first time, the epicenter of which was near a small island between Madagascar and Africa. After a while, disturbing sounds were recorded in different parts of the planet: first in Chile, then in New Zealand and Canada. And finally, the same thing happened on the Hawaiian Islands, located almost exactly on the opposite side of the planet.
Nobody knows what this means. Meteorite? An underwater volcano? Nuclear test?
At the center of the mystery is the tiny island of Mayotte, located halfway between Africa and Madagascar. Since May of this year, it has been hit by a series of earthquakes. Most of the tremors were of minor strength, but the most powerful, recorded on May 8, corresponded to a magnitude of 5.8 points. This was the largest earthquake in the history of the island.
However, this "swarm of earthquakes" was almost over when, at the beginning of last month, seismological laboratories registered a mysterious ringing.
Ekström, who specializes in unusual earthquakes, points out that many strange things are connected with the event of November 11. It was as if our planet itself was ringing like a bell, making a low, monotonous sound over and over again as it spread.
Earthquakes, by their very nature, are usually recorded as short, sharp “crackles.” As stress in the earth's crust is suddenly released, pulses of clearly identifiable seismic waves are emitted from the point where the strata were displaced.
The first signal is called the primary wave. These high-frequency "thickening waves" are spread in groups. Then a secondary wave appears, which is characterized by a large amplitude of sinusoidal oscillation. And only after that surface waves arise: slow deep tremors, which, as a rule, are quite long and can bend around the entire Earth several times.
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The phenomenon of November 11 is notable for the fact that neither primary nor secondary waves were recorded that day. Seismologists have recorded only one deep resonant surface wave. There was no hum, which usually accompanies earthquake waves. On the contrary, the earth made a much clearer, almost musical, sound of constant frequency.
According to NationalGeographic, the French Geological Survey suggests that the reason could be the formation of a new volcano off the coast of Mayotte. Although the island was created as a result of volcanic activity, it has been dormant for over 4 thousand years.
The French believe that the mysterious ringing could have been caused by the movement of magma 50 kilometers from the coast, deep under water. This is confirmed by GPS-sensors, which found that the island of Mayotte has moved 5 centimeters to the southeast in less than five months.
However, this region is still poorly mapped. What is actually under the ocean, one can only guess. Ekström believes that the unusually clear signal could have been caused by magma splashing inside a closed reservoir or being squeezed out through a crack in surface rocks. However, the scientist emphasizes that he is not sure of his version.
Igor Abramov