A marvellous megastructure is sitting deep inside the Pacific. Scientists say it is...

Scientists have stumbled upon a strange megastructure deep inside the Pacific Ocean near Easter Island, which may be the reason behind the East Pacific Rise - which is the fastest spreading ocean ridge in the world.

As per the researchers, the ancient ocean slabs are present at this site, which is hidden deep in the interior of the planet.

University of Maryland geologist Jingchuan Wangand his team have made this discovery with the help of seismic data, as reported by Science Alert.

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The scientists sent bouncing sound waves deep inside the ground to form seismic maps and identified an odd blob of the mantle that has been slowly moving beneath the Nazca Plate that borders South America's continental plate.

The mantle makes up most of the volume of Earth, which is made up of heated silicate rocks that are sandwiched between a cool, thin outer crust and the core.

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Across tens of millions of years, this layer has been flowing in cycles because of the extreme difference in temperature across the opposite edges. The cooler and denser material is getting drawn into the warmer interior.

The process is known as subduction, and the Nazca Plate is going through subduction currently beneath South America, which recycles the surface material back into the mantle.

Scientists say structural gap created between central and eastern Pacific

Scientists said that there is an ocean ridge on the other side of that plate beneath Easter Island, which is growing rapidly and a mysterious structural gap has been created between the central and eastern Pacific.

"Our discovery opens up new questions about how the deep Earth influences what we see on the surface across vast distances and timescales," Wang said.

"We found that in this region, the material was sinking at about half the speed we expected, which suggests the mantle transition zone can act like a barrier and slow down the movement of material through the Earth," he added.

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"This thickened area is like a fossilised fingerprint of an ancient piece of seafloor that subducted into the Earth approximately 250 million years ago. It's giving us a glimpse into Earth's past that we've never had before," Wang stated.

Wang, along with other scientists, has been working on the models of how tectonic plates have shifted throughout the history of Earth.

"This is just the beginning. We believe there are many more ancient structures waiting to be discovered in Earth's deep interior. Each one has the potential to reveal many new insights about our planet's complex past - and even lead to a better understanding of other planets beyond ours," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)