There’s a “gravity hole” in the Indian Ocean — a spot where Earth’s gravitational pull is weaker, its mass is lesser than usual, and the sea level dips by over 328 feet (100 meters).
This variance has mystified geologists for a long time, but now researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, India, have found a valid explanation for its formation: plumes of lava coming from deep inside the planet, much like those that lead to the creation of volcanoes.
To come to this theory, the team used supercomputers to simulate how the area could have formed, going as far ago as 140 million years. The rulings, detailed in a study published lately in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, center around an ancient ocean that no longer exists.