Black Hole on Earth?
By Dr. Hud: Let me tell you what I’m talking about. So, we all know about the Bermuda Triangle, although I guess, few realize that Miami is one corner of that triangle. Within the Bermuda Triangle is the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean (I didn’t know that last part).
Over in the Pacific is the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific. Apparently there is a thing over there called the Dragon’s Triangle,which happens to be in the Mariana Trench. The Dragon’s Triangle has basically all the same stories as the Bermuda Triangle. Weirdly they are at the same latitude and,wait for it, they (the triangles and the trenches) are exactly opposite each other on the globe!
HOLY COW! The two deepest trenches are opposite each other! No one on the show can explain it. In fact, one guy actually said “there is no rational explanation for it.” The suggestion is that there are black holes connecting the two trenches. They even suggest that the black holes are what is driving the strange weather in the region, you know, those pesky hurricanes.
Amusingly, as soon as they pointed out that the two trenches were opposite each other I thought “I wonder why that would be” and before the one guy could tell me that there was no rational explanation, I came up with one. Let me run it by you. The Mariana Trench is a subduction zone, a place where two continental plates collide and one moves under the other. The Puerto Rico Trench is also a subduction zone. In fact, they have to be subduction zones or, alternately, they are a necessary result of subduction zones. A subduction zone is a necessary consequence of divergent boundaries like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; a place where magma boils up from below the surface which pushes the plates apart. Now, suppose that you have a perfectly smooth sphere with only on divergent boundary. Given time, the new material that has been pushed up will eventually get half-way round the world, where it will meet the other material which was pushed away. Either these colliding ‘plates’ will buckle up and create a mountain range or one will be subsumed under the other. This doesn’t yet explain the two trenches.
So suppose that you have two divergent zones. Given time, these two zone must be on opposite sides of the globe. If one zone is in the first quarter and the second zone is in the second quarter while quarters 3 and 4 are empty, then the plates will come into contact sooner on the side facing the other trench while the far side will remain unfettered. This mean one side will have resistance to expansion while the other won’t. The two zones will push each other apart because the plates are floating on liquid. Heavy though a continent is the force of one continent push on another is greater. So, two divergent zones must push each other away until they reach equilibrium. This will have the effect of moving the convergent zones to equilibrium as well. So, in a perfect sphere with no other forces the convergent zones (the trenches) will necessarily be opposite each other. Sure, things are more complicated in our world; the process has been going on very long, there are more than two divergent zones, there is turbulence below the surface. But, no of this changes the response. Even in a complicated system, if there are two divergent zones that dominate then, given the right amount of time, there will be two convergent zones that oppose each other.
Besides, two zones are balanced. You could have other lines of symmetry, it could be three zones. But two equally spaced zones is not unexplainable. And lets be clear. the response on that show was that black holes were the result. The final word by one of the “experts” was “for those who think a black hole in the Bermuda Triangle is ridiculous I can only say ‘there are lots of things we don’t understand’” which is, in all honesty, a very pure response.