When you purchase through tie on our site , we may earn an affiliate delegation . Here ’s how it works .
Name : Unnamed peak in the Ellsworth Mountains
emplacement : Antarctica
The pyramid-shaped mountain in Antarctica became internet-famous in 2016.
Coordinates:-79.9774614356392 , -81.95892707235716
Why it ’s incredible : The mountain looks like a human - made Great Pyramid .
A batch that ’s hide in a sea of snow inAntarcticalooks strikingly like anancient Egyptian pyramidwhen viewed from above . But no human ( or exotic ) hands were need to build this peak — it was forged through the slow , grate unconscious process of erosion .
The pyramidal flock , which does n’t have a stately name , became internet - illustrious in 2016 , but scientist in all probability knew about it before then , Mauri Pelto , a professor of environmental scientific discipline at Nichols College in Dudley , Massachusetts , previously told Live Science . A enquiry base for mood scientist sit around just south of the mountain in an field call the Patriot Hills , and " you could probably see this mountain from up there , " Pelto said .
Related:‘We were in disbelief ' : Antarctica is behave in a way we ’ve never see before . Can it recover ?
Antarctica ’s " pyramid " is about 4,150 human foot ( 1,265 meter ) marvelous , or about one - fifth the height of Denali , the tallest flock in North America . It has four steep sides and is situate in the southern Ellsworth Mountains — a chain of jagged apex first spotted during a flight by American airman Lincoln Ellsworth in 1935 , harmonize to a U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS)research paperpublished in 2007 .
The region is known for holding 500 million - year - oldfossils of trilobite and other crittersdating to the Cambrian period ( 541 million to 485.4 million age ago ) .
The mountain ’s sides were probably carved and smoothed into a pyramid - like human body by one C of millions of years of erosion . Specifically , the rocks may have been dependent to freeze - thaw erosion , which is when water and snow fill small cleft during the day and then freeze at night , Pelto said . The water expands in the cracks as it freezes , causing the gaps to grow big under the resulting pressure and eventually causing heavy chunks of rock to fall in off of the deal .
Three of the pyramidic mess ’s sides come along to have eroded at the same rate , while the quaternary side — the eastern ridge — formed severally , Pelto say .
— Antarctica ice melting could cause 100 concealed volcanoes to flare
— scientist peered into a secret Antarctic lake hide beneath the ice — and uncovered a never - before - seen ecosystem
— Never - before - seen shapes up to 1,300 feet long discovered beneath south-polar ice
Freeze - thaw corroding credibly spirt other pyramidal mickle , too , such as the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps , Pelto added .
Variousconspiracy theoriessprung up to explain the shape of Antarctica ’s pyramid mountain when it went viral in 2016 , with theorists contemplating the involvement of a forgotten culture or aliens from KO’d infinite .
But " this is just a mountain that seem like a pyramid,“Eric Rignot , a professor of Earth system science at the University of California , Irvine and senior research scientist atNASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , antecedently told Live Science . " Great Pyramid shapes are not out of the question — many peaks partly expect like Pyramids of Egypt , but they only have one to two cheek like that , rarely four . "
Discover moreincredible places , where we highlight the fantastic story and science behind some of the most striking landscapes on Earth .
Antarctica quiz
