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Satellite Spots Massive Object Hidden Under the Frozen Wastes of Antarctica (thesun.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the lurking-beneath-the-surface dept.

schwit1 quotes a report from The Sun: Scientists believe a massive object which could change our understanding of history is hidden beneath the Antarctic ice. The huge and mysterious "anomaly" is thought to be lurking beneath the frozen wastes of an area called Wilkes Land. It stretches for a distance of 151 miles across and has a maximum depth of about 848 meters. Some researchers believe it is the remains of a truly massive asteroid which was more than twice the size of the Chicxulub space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs. If this explanation is true, it could mean this killer asteroid caused the Permian-Triassic extinction event which killed 96 percent of Earth's sea creatures and up to 70 percent of the vertebrate organisms living on land.This "Wilkes Land gravity anomaly" was first uncovered in 2006, when NASA satellites spotted gravitational changes which indicated the presence of a huge object sitting in the middle of a 300 mile wide impact crater.

5 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Here we go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well it's black, and its edges have the ratio 1:4:9.

  2. Which one? by Meneth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So is this Homeworld, Alien vs Predator, or Stargate SG-1? I'm hoping for the first. "One hundred years ago, a satellite detected an object under the sands of the great desert..."

  3. Re: Is it Iron? by Rei · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep - just like the Sudbury deposit. Probably a great spot to mine, if it wasn't buried beneath ice and in an area where mining is illegal. Large impact crater floors tend to stay molten for so long that they stratify, so you can find portions of the deposit rich in different minerals, such as nickel, copper, and precious metals.

    It's one thing that Mars has over Earth in terms of mineral deposits. While Mars lacks relevant recent fluvial mineral concentration mechanisms, as well as those aided by life, by oxidation, and a number of other processes, it's also struck more often by large asteroids, and thus probably has more common stratified impact deposits.

    --
    For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
  4. The Sun does Science by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well Slashdot is quoting a science article from the Sun 'newspaper' so I think we are pretty much well beyond the Mountains of Madness now and heading out over the Seas of Stupidity.

  5. Crappy Reporting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The anomaly was actually discovered in 1959-1960:

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/the-wilkes-land-anomaly-revisited/44DCA3FC303E6FF82CD3259AD41A2437

    by this guy

    http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/canyoncourier/obituary.aspx?pid=173344814

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkes_Land_crater

    The mass concentration (ie. asteroid remnants) was first discussed in 2006.