Beneath the Antarctic Ice Lies a Chasm Deeper than the Grand Canyon

[Judi Lynn]

Beneath the Antarctic Ice Lies a Chasm Deeper than the Grand Canyon
Robert T. Gonzalez on io9 1/15/14 10:32am

A team of researchers lead by Newcastle University's Neil Ross used radar and satellite imagery collected in collaboration with NASA's IceBridge mission to chart a prehistoric Antarctic mountain range known as the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands. It was in doing so that they discovered an enormous chasm measuring 1.8 miles deep, 186 miles long and, at some points, as much as 15 miles wide.

By comparison, the Grand Canyon measures longer and, at points, wider than the newly discovered Antarctic trench, coming it at just over 275 miles long and up to 18 miles wide; but where the Antarctic chasm wins out is depth, its profundity extending at points to almost twice that of the Grand Canyon's. (Interestingly, when it comes to sheer vertical extent, neither of these geological rifts can compete with Nepal's Kali Gandaki Gorge; at some points 18,278 feet lower than the bounding peak of Anapurna I, it is arguably the deepest gorge on Earth).

In the latest issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin, Ross and his colleagues hypothesize that the canyon and the rest of the Ellsworth subglacial highlands formed some 80 million years ago, when the Antarctic continent separated from what was once a unified global landmass, and was later layered over with glaciers that further gouged, and later hid, the lands below them.

"To me, this just goes to demonstrate how little we still know about the surface of our own planet," said Ross in a statement. "The discovery and exploration of hidden, previously unknown landscapes is still possible and incredibly exciting, even now."

More:
http://io9.com/beneath-the-antarctic-ice-lies-a-chasm-deeper-than-the-1501956900

[840high]

1. Interesting.

[2naSalit]

2. Hey...

wasn't there some CT or another that claims the planet is hollow? Maybe they were right!

[Warren DeMontague]

3. R'yleth, where dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

[DreamGypsy]

4. You've arrived. At the Mountains of Madness...

Dyer and a graduate student named Danforth fly an airplane over the mountains, which they soon realize are the outer walls of a huge, abandoned stone city of cubes and cones, utterly alien compared with any human architecture. Because of their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the Necronomicon, the builders of this lost civilization are dubbed the "Elder Things". By exploring these fantastic structures, the men are able to learn the history of the Elder Things through interpreting their magnificent hieroglyphic murals: The Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the Moon was pulled loose from the planet and were the creators of life. They built their cities with the help of "Shoggoths", biological entities created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. As more buildings are explored, a fantastic vista opens of the history of races beyond the scope of man's understanding, including the Elder Things' conflicts with the Star-spawn of Cthulhu and the Mi-go, who arrived on Earth some time after the Elder Things themselves. The images also reflect a degradation in the order of this civilization, as the Shoggoths gain independence. As more resources are applied to maintaining order, the etchings become haphazard and primitive. The murals also allude to some unnamed evil in an even larger mountain range just past their city, which even they fear greatly. Eventually, as Antarctica became uninhabitable even for the Elder Things, they migrated into a large, subterranean ocean.

Dyer and Danforth eventually realize they are not alone in the city. The Elder Things missing from the advance party's camp had somehow returned to life and, after slaughtering the explorers, returned to the city of their origin. Dyer and Danforth discover traces of the Elder Things' earlier exploration, as well as sledges containing the corpses of Gedney and the dog missing from the camp.

As the two progress further into the city, they are ultimately drawn to a massive ominous entrance which is the opening of a tunnel which they believe leads into the subterranean region described in the murals. Compulsively they are drawn in, finding further horrors: evidence of dead Elder Things killed in a brutal struggle, and blind six-foot-tall penguins wandering around placidly, apparently as livestock for the unknown forms of life which lurked inside the subterranean abyss. They are then confronted with an immense, ululating horror in the form of a black, bubbling mass, which after a brief glimpse they identify as a Shoggoth. Danforth and Dyer escape with their lives using luck and diversion. Aboard the plane high above the plateau, Danforth looks back and sees something that causes him to lose his sanity. He refuses to tell anyone (even Dyer) what he saw, though it is implied that it has something to do with what lies beyond the larger mountain range that even the Elder Things feared.

Professor Dyer concludes that the Elder Things only slaughtered the survivors and dogs out of scientific curiosity at their new surroundings, and their civilization was eventually destroyed by the Shoggoths they created, and that this entity has sustained itself on the enormous penguins since eons past. He begs the planners of the next proposed Antarctic expedition to stay away from things that should not be loosed on the Earth.

I was really into the mythos...about 40 years ago.

[Cha]

5. Stunning! thanks Judi Lynn