Scientists baffled after discovering Earth has two secret mountains more than 100 times TALLER than Everest

Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay archetypal reached the acme of Mount Everest successful 1953, conquering the world's highest highest has been a extremity of astir each mountaineer connected the planet.

But this celebrated highest pales successful examination to 2 concealed mountains, which are more than 100 times taller than Everest's 8,800-metre summit.

Reaching heights of astir 620 miles (1,000km) these continent-sized 'islands' of stone dwarf thing other recovered connected our planet.

However, confused adventurers tin remainder easy.

Scientists from Utrecht University person revealed that these gargantuan peaks are not recovered connected our planet's surface.

Instead they are buried immoderate 1,200 miles (2,000km) beneath our feet.

The researchers estimation that the mountains are astatine slightest fractional a cardinal years aged but could day backmost to the enactment of the satellite 4 cardinal years ago.

Lead researcher Dr Arwen Deuss says: 'Nobody knows what they are, and whether they are lone a impermanent phenomenon, oregon if they person been sitting determination for millions oregon possibly adjacent billions of years.'

The 2 monstrous structures beryllium connected the bound betwixt Earth's halfway and the mantle, the semi-solid country beneath the crust, beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean.

Around them is simply a 'graveyard' of sunken tectonic plates which person been pushed down from the aboveground successful a process called subduction.

In a caller study, researchers recovered that the islands are overmuch hotter than the surrounding slabs of the Earth's crust and galore millions of years older.

Scientists person known for decades that there are immense structures hidden heavy wrong the Earth's mantle.

This is imaginable acknowledgment to the mode that the seismic shockwaves from earthquakes dispersed done the planet's interior.

When a almighty earthquake happens, it rings Earth similar a bell, sending waves rippling from 1 broadside of the satellite to the other.

But erstwhile these waves walk done thing dense oregon hot, they are slowed down, weakened, oregon reflected altogether.

So, by listening cautiously to the 'tone' that arrives connected the different broadside of the planet, scientists are capable to physique up a representation of what lies beneath.

Over the years, studies person revealed that determination are 2 tremendous regions of the mantle wherever shockwaves dramatically dilatory down, dubbed the Large Low Seismic Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs).

Dr Deuss says: 'The waves dilatory down due to the fact that the LLSVPs are hot, conscionable similar you can't tally arsenic accelerated successful blistery upwind arsenic you tin erstwhile it's colder.'

When waves walk done a portion that is overmuch hotter, they request to expend a batch much vigor to marque their mode through.

Co-author Dr Sujania Talavera-Soza says: 'Just similar erstwhile the upwind is blistery extracurricular and you spell for a run, you don’t lone dilatory down but you besides get much bushed than erstwhile it is acold outside.' 

That means you would expect the code of a question passing done the blistery LLSVPs to beryllium some retired of tune and quieter than different areas, an effect scientists telephone damping.

However, erstwhile the researchers examined the data, they were amazed to find a precise antithetic picture.

'Against our expectations, we recovered small damping successful the LLSVPs, which made the tones dependable precise large there,' says Dr Talavera-Soza. 

'But we did find a batch of damping successful the acold slab graveyard, wherever the tones sounded precise soft.'

The pieces of stone from the crust origin tons of damping due to the fact that they recrystallise into a choky operation arsenic they descend down towards the core. 

This suggests that the mountains are made up of overmuch larger grains than the surrounding slabs since these wouldn't sorb truthful overmuch vigor from passing seismic waves.

'Those mineral grains bash not turn overnight, which tin lone mean 1 thing: LLSVPs are tons and tons older than the surrounding slab graveyards,' says Dr Talavera-Soza.

At the debased end, the researchers estimation that these underground mountains are astatine slightest fractional a cardinal years old.

But they could beryllium overmuch older, perchance adjacent dating backmost to the enactment of the Earth itself.

This goes against the accepted thought that the mantle is successful a changeless authorities of movement.

Although the mantle is not really liquid, it does determination similar a liquid implicit highly agelong clip frames.

Previously, it had been thought that the mantle would, therefore, beryllium 'well-mixed' by flowing currents.

But the information that these structures are billions of years aged shows that they haven't been moved oregon disrupted by mantle convection, meaning that the mantle is not well-mixed aft all.

Recently, scientists person suggested that the LLSVPs mightiness beryllium the remnants of an past satellite which crashed into Earth billions of years ago.

Some researchers assertion that the satellite was formed erstwhile a Mars-sized satellite called Theia collided with Earth, knocking molten chunks of some planets into orbit.

Since the satellite is overmuch smaller than the suggested wide of Theia, this leaves the evident question of wherever the remainder of the satellite has gone.

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology person suggested that the LLSVPs could beryllium the remains of the Theia collision.

After moving a bid of simulations, the researchers recovered that a important magnitude of 'Theian' worldly — astir 2 per cent of Earth's wide — would person entered the little mantle of the past satellite Earth.

That would explicate wherefore these regions look to beryllium truthful overmuch denser, hotter, and older than the surrounding slab graveyard.