Another world with six-storey buildings beneath the Arctic? Here's what scientists found on its seafloor

Toronto, Canada

In an unbelievable discovery, scientists have found multiple mysterious underwater structures on the seafloor of the remote area of the Arctic.

The international team of researchers discovered a vast range of formations that were larger than football fields. 

These "modern" formations stood at the edge of the Canadian Beaufort Sea.

Previously, the experts have spotted many gaping craters which are filled with ice and sediment and believed that it was created due to the ancient permafrost under the waves.

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According to a report published in IFL Science, between 2010 and 2022, a total of 65 newly formed craters were found by the scientists, the largest of which was said to be of the size of a city block and featuring six-storey buildings.

The team was headed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). They earlier thought that the permafrost spread over the area in the last stage of the ice age nearly 11,000 years ago.

However, when sea levels rose, the ancient permafrost on the Arctic shelf was covered.

Truth behind mysterious structure in the Arctic

In the latest research, the scientists took the help of underwater robots to collect samples from inside the newly-formed seafloor craters.

When the ice was analysed, it was found that the ice formed in present-day conditions.

Scientists found that the ice was created when deeper layers of ancient permafrost started melting under the sea and created brackish (slightly salty) groundwater which rose and sank again only to get refreeze on the seafloor.

According to a report published in IFL Science, the groundwater remains frozen at a temperature of -1.4C (29.5F) till the process starts again.

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“These findings upend our assumptions about underwater permafrost,” said the study’s lead author Charlie Paull, of the MBARI, in a statement.

“We previously believed all underwater permafrost was leftover from the last ice age, but we’ve learned that submarine permafrost ice is also actively forming and decomposing on the modern seafloor,” he added.

“Our work shows that permafrost ice is both actively forming and decomposing near the seafloor over widespread areas, creating a dynamic underwater landscape with massive sinkholes and large mounds of ice covered in sediment," Paull stated.

(With inputs from agencies)