Science has always attempted to solve mysteries and the unexplained. There must always be a reason for everything, yet some still manage to elude logical explanations. The earth alone is full of geological wonders, from awesome canyons, volcanoes, caves, and a myriad of other formations. Some still baffle scientists and defy explanation. Here are 7 of these such mysterious structures:
Yamal Craters, Russia
A 100-foot wide crater was discovered by a helicopter pilot in 2014 over the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. It was an enormous hole in the permafrost. Scientists tried to determine if it was caused by a meteor, a natural gas explosion, or even by alien interference. Tests revealed that the bottom of the craters contained very high levels of methane gas pointing to a possible explosion, but another possibility is that the crater represents a slow, long-term collapse of the permafrost. Further studies are needed, as it still puzzles the planet’s top minds. Since then other craters have been discovered.
Lake Hillier, Australia
This is a small salt-water lake on an island off Western Australia, and what makes it unique is its bubblegum-pink color. It was documented by the British explorer Mathew Flinders in 1802, but no explanation was arrived at for its unique color. Today, scientists thought the color to be due to the presence of pink alga or pink bacterium, but unlike other pink lakes like Retba in Senegal, Lake Hillier’s color does not fluctuate with temperature or sunlight. So the mystery continues…
Fairy Circles, Namibia
The fairy circles in the Namib desert are circular patches of bare red earth surrounded by tufts of grass, that stretch endlessly across the arid landscape, creating a polka-dot like pattern. Scientists have come up with two possible explanations – the circles were created when plants compete for water, with the weaker plants unable to compete, leaving bare patches of desert; and a recent theory implying that the circles were created by termites (each circle had termite nests underneath) eating the vegetation above their nests. Still, there are no conclusive facts to explain the circles, as of today.
The Eye Of The Sahara, Mauritania
It is also known as the Richat Structure, and is a 28-mile wide of huge concentric circles found in the western African nation of Mauritania. Initially, geologists surmised it was caused by an asteroid, however, there isn’t enough melted rock among the rings to substantiate this theory. There are other theories floating around, like it being an eroded collapsed dome some 100 million years ago, or they represent the remains of the mythical Atlantis, based on Plato’s allegory. Needless to say, it remains a mystery.
The Great Unconformity, United States
The Great Unconformity is a huge gap in geological records with layers of rocks dating from 1.2 billion to about 250 million years ago. This enormous chunk of lost time is is revealed in the stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Geologists are perplexed by the layers of rock dated about 540 million years ago, with a layer beneath formed about 1 billion years ago. So what happened to the stuff in between? This mystery has led to several theories, more popular among them is the “Snowball Earth” theory, which believes that glacier’s peeled off the earth’s crust with the help of lubricating sediments, pushed it to the oceans. Still, many questions remain unanswered.
Mima Mounds, United States
The Mima Mounds are bizarre uniform undulations in the grasslands of Washington State near Olympia. Similar mounds have been spotted in California to Colorado which continue to puzzle naturalists. Some mounds may be 30,000 years old, several thousands of years before humans arrived in North America. A theory is that pocket gophers have built the mounds, but nobody has ever seen a gopher building one.
Nastapoka Arc, Canada
There is a mysterious near-perfect arc southeast of Hudson Bay, Canada. It was initially thought to be an impact crater from a meteor, but none of the usual evidence is found in the vicinity. The most commonly accepted theory is that it was formed when one shelf of rock pushed into another…but how and why it is so perfectly round is still a puzzle.
Our planet is constantly changing, and has evolved from billions of years. Surely there are a lot of mysterious and unexplained phenomenon and structures. At least the scientists are busy trying to find answers, but it seems some mysteries have no logical or scientific answers.
