The Bermuda Triangle

History of formation, Controversial incidents and Scientific Explanations 

Introduction

The ‘Bermuda Triangle’ also known as the ‘Devil’s triangle’ is one of the most controversial and mysterious places on the earth and it has always been in controversies and debated over due to strange incidents and happenings around it throughout the history. According to science scholars, it is a region in the North-Western Atlantic Ocean. The boundaries of the triangle cover the regions of Florida, The Bahamas, entire area of Caribbean island lying east to the Azores, Gulf of Mexico. Most of the books and writings on the triangle state that the regions of Miami, Florida, San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Mid Atlantic island of Bermuda make up the northern boundary of the triangle with most of the accidents concentrated near the southern boundaries along the Bahamas and Florida. It includes the Caribbean plate, the Cocos plate and the Puerto Rico trench. It is one of the most extensively sailed shipping lanes in the world and ships cross through this region almost daily to reach the ports of U.S.A, Europe and the Caribbean islands.  

History of formation

As stated in the research ("The Centrifugal Force behind the Movement of Continents, Change in the Axis of the Rotating Earth")by Greitzer (July 2020), the region of the Bermuda triangle was formed due to the change in the location of the equator as a result of change in the axis of the Earth’s rotation. As we may know, the theory of continental drift was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1966 which had established the basis of the theory of plate tectonics. The main force was the centrifugal force which had caused the rotational movement of the earth following the changes in the locations of earth’s axis and the equator relative to the mantle due to convection currents. The assumption is that over an extended geological time period, the axis of the earth’s rotation in a pseudo-circular orbit changes its location. A model was presented in Greitzer (July 2020), in which explanations are given for the possibility of a change in the axis of the earth’s rotation in a peripheral manner by about 90˚ and, in accordance, about a 90˚change in the equator’s location. It is assumed that the axis of rotation of the earth in circular orbits having a larger circumference changes its position relative to the mantle. The speed of rotation was highest at the equator but it gradually decreased towards the North and South poles. The force acts on the continents due to change in the location of the equator and the axis of rotation and causes them to move. 

It is assumed that since the time the earth was created, there has been a change in the location of the equator and the axis of rotation which follows a specific trend and direction in different eras and periods in the geologic time scale. The movement of each different continent is determined by its location relative to the equator, to the speed of its previous movement, to the size of its mass and its lithological composition, and also its resemblance to some parts of other neighbouring continents. The size of a continent’s mass affects the degree of its acceleration. The degree to which a continent is split depends mainly on its position relative to the equator and to the relations between the speed of the continent’s movement and the speed of the movement of the change in location of the equator. In the course of its movement the continent meets other continents moving at slower speeds or in different or in different directions, and at the point of contact tectonic folds, such as the Alpine fold, may be created, or subduction of the frontal part of one continent, slab pull, or ridge push (gravitational sliding, can occur, or other tectonic forms may be created in accordance with the pressure created between the two colliding continents (Seyfert & Sirkin, 1979; Derry, 1980). directions, and at the point of contact tectonic folds, such as the Alpine fold, may be created, or subduction of the frontal part of one continent, slab pull, or ridge push (gravitational sliding, can occur, or other tectonic forms may be created in accordance with the pressure created between the two colliding continents (Seyfert & Sirkin, 1979; Derry, 1980). The commonly current scenarios for driving plate tectonics are slab pull, ridge push and mantle flow (Convection current) (van Hunen & Allen, 2011;Summeren et al., 2012;Crameri&Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2017). According to the result of the present work, those driving forces are secondary forces. They are created mainly as a result of the main driving forces movement due to the centrifugally forces of the globe and due to the changing the location of the Earth's rotation axis (Changing the TPW) and accordingly a change in the location of the equator.

Forces of Movement Acting on Continents Following About a 90˚ Change in Location of the Equator

         

Controversial incidents and Scientific Explanations

According to the explorers and researchers studying the history of the triangle, Christopher Columbus was the first person to witness and later document a strange incident in the Bermuda triangle. He reported that he along with his crew had observed ‘Dancing lights’ on the horizon and flames in the sky. He also mentioned about the fluctuations in the bearings of compass. Modern scholars checking the original log books of Columbus have concluded that the lights were the cooking fires of the Taino natives in their canoes or on the beach. The flames in the sky were due to the falling meteors which can be easily seen at the sea. The first article by journalist E.V.W Jones regarding a strange and mysterious incident at the triangle was published in a newspaper. Two years later, Fate magazine published an article which covered the mysterious loss of several planes and ships into the triangle, including Flight19 along with a group of five U.S Navy TBM avenger bombers on a training mission. Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975) had challenged this trend. 

   

According to a few conclusions by Kusche, the number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.  In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur was, for the most part, neither disproportionate nor mysterious; furthermore, the numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not be reported.  Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.

He further stated that, "The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism." 

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a ship by decreasing the density of the water and any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.

Popular theories

The following theories have been used in the past by the triangle writers and researchers to explain the incidents:

UFOs

Some theories claim that extra-terrestrials can be the culprits in case of the mysterious disappearance as they may have abducted ships and planes. This scientific yet fictional idea was given a boost when topics like ESP, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and the like flowered in the middle-to-late 1960s, and was used as storylines for popular films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The UFO Incident. 

Time Warp

The proposers of this theory state that the disappearing ships and planes entered a time warp or time travelled to a different dimension on the other side of the universe which means that the crew members can still be alive somewhere in another dimension and may live in the past, future or even in a multiverse. This idea has also been a popular content in many science fiction comics and movies.

After reading and researching, I can say that ‘The Bermuda triangle is indeed one of the most strange and mysterious places on the earth’. What do you think is the mystery behind the incidents at the triangle? Is it a paranormal activity or Science? 

by

Keshav Singh

TY Geology

References

[PDF] the triangle of bermuda - free download pdf. [PDF] THE TRIANGLE OF BERMUDA - Free Download PDF. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://nanopdf.com/download/the-triangle-of-bermuda_pdf 

 

Https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.ettoday.net/amp/amp_news.php7%3Fnew⋯⋯. Cofacts. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://en.cofacts.org/article/2ptle3feqd3j2