Mystery beneath the Baltic: Nature's icy handiwork unveiled
In 2011, Swedish explorers Peter Lindberg and Denis Asberg discovered a mysterious structure at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. During their treasure hunt, their sonars detected an object with a diameter of about 60 metres, located at a depth of 90 metres. Scientists also claimed that the structure has "stair-like formations," and about 200 metres away, there is another unknown object.
Lindberg and Asberg initially thought the formation had a natural origin, but they were not certain. For this reason, they began to contact scientists about the matter, reports WION. "We wanted to look into it some more and decided to keep this totally quiet. We contacted geologists, marine biologists and when they said they had never seen anything like this, of course, more thoughts were triggered. It could be something really awesome that we’ve found," said Asberg in 2011 during an interview for Swedish TV4.
Mysterious structure at the bottom of the Baltic Sea
The discovery sparked a wave of speculation about its origin. Some even suggested it could be remnants of an ancient civilization, UFOs, hidden Nazi weapons, or a bunker from World War II. Lindberg, in an interview with NBC in 2012, stated: "It has these very strange stair formations, and if it is constructed, it must be constructed tens of thousands of years ago before the Ice Age. If this is Atlantis, that would be quite amazing."
In 2016, detailed studies of the underwater structure were conducted. The Ocean X team went to the site, collected samples, and also filmed a documentary about the discovery by Swedish explorers. The samples were sent for further analysis. As noted by WION, geologist Volker Bruchert from Stockholm University, after examining them, concluded that the object is not mysterious at all.
"What has been generously ignored by the Ocean-X team is that most of the samples they have brought up from the sea bottom are granites and gneisses and sandstones. My hypothesis is that this object, this structure, was formed during the Ice Age many thousands of years ago," explained Bruchert. Researchers thus concluded that the formation was created by glacial movements, likely from sandstone, basalt, or solidified volcanic lava.
