For those of you who don’t know, the Bermuda Triangle is a region located in the Atlantic Ocean. It has been the center of attention and fascination for many years as it has been chronicled to be a place of paranormal activity. Tales have been told of men being lost at sea and ships and airplanes going in, but never coming out.
If you have been on an Internet surfing spree lately, you might have noticed the appearance of an abundance of articles claiming that Sherlock-like scientists have managed to solve the mystery behind one of the universe's most mind-boggling occurrences yet.
Recently, British newspapers have stated that scientists have discovered a number of large craters at the very bottom of the Barents Sea (off the coast of Norway) in the Arctic region. Those at the Arctic University of Norway have claimed, through 3-D seismic imaging, that the craters are up to 3,280 feet in diameter and 131 feet in depth.
They have also found that the craters may have been caused by high-pressure methane gas (or methane hydrate, to be specific) blowouts created by deeply set oil deposits accumulated in shallow rocks some 206 to 248 million years ago (during the dawn of the dinosaurs). These blowouts occur when the ocean warms up, which causes it to become more acidic. The increase in acidity makes the methane hydrate unstable, which forms pockets that burst and leave behind the colossal craters.
Vladimir Potapov, a Russian scientist, spoke of the theory in an interview in Siberian Times in 2014. In his interview, he stated that the theory behind the Bermuda Triangle and its mysterious disappearances is that such gas blowouts may have heated the ocean water, may have sunk ships as they cannot float on methane-infused water; and the blowouts could have also created air turbulence which explains the missing airplanes as well.
But once the claim was made, the media took the opportunity to pose it in such a way as to turn it into a paranormal scoop, instead of the theory it actually was. Without any actual scientific support, news services announced that the discoveries stated above may also be a possible explanation for the Bermuda Triangle mystery. However, the Arctic University of Norway (the place that made the methane gas discovery in the first place) jumped in to debunk the media’s take on its findings, in a news article titled “Craters in the Barents Sea Not Connected to Bermuda Triangle”.
Also, the main problem in this scientific breakthrough is that no one has yet to take a submersible down there to check for the existence of the craters. Hence, the mystery may still not be solved for the lack of empirical evidence.
Everything is still in the theory stage and it would require some exploration into the unknown to actually unveil the mystery and the many disappearances it has caused. But it's still one of the most credible explanations, which kind of shows why researchers claimed that they solved the Bermuda Triangle and its seemingly endless mystery.
If empirical evidence is found to support this theory, it would be extremely helpful for reducing the number of ships, airplanes and men taken by the dreaded triangle.