Overview
- The buried layer is far thicker than comparable structures documented elsewhere and sits within the oceanic plate below Bermuda’s crust.
- Its low density could buoy the seafloor by about 500 meters, helping explain why the archipelago appears unusually elevated.
- Researchers propose the layer may have formed when mantle material was emplaced during the region’s last known volcanism about 31 million years ago.
- Analyses drew on records from a Bermuda seismic station and teleseismic events to delineate abrupt changes in wave behavior at depth.
- The peer-reviewed findings were published November 28 in Geophysical Research Letters, and the lead author plans surveys of other islands to test whether similar features exist.