Mystery ‘pyramid’ appears in satellite images of Antarctica, sparks conspiracy theories

Antarctica, a continent which is known to be covered in snow and ice, and has no permanent human population, has come under heated debate after a mysterious triangular structure appeared in its satellite images.

The images left social media users baffled and started debates about where this supposed ‘pyramid’ came from. In the satellite images of the Ellsworth Mountain range, which lies in the southern part of Antarctica, the huge pyramid-shaped mass was spotted.

In the area, various strange-looking peaks were discovered with one measuring two kilometres in every direction of its square base, which is similar to Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza.

However, after the images of the ‘pyramids’ circulated on social media, people started sharing theories on how such an enormous structure came into existence. Taking to microblogging platform X, the new version of Twitter, one user stated, “Wait how they moved the pyramids from Egypt to Antarctica?”

Some users went on to say that the fabled secret society, ‘the Illuminati’ or artificial life is behind the huge structure. Another user wrote: “This structure belongs to the civilization which existed before the flood. Around 10,000 years ago Antarctica was warm.”

Scientists explain ‘pyramidal peaked mountain’

Explaining the puzzling structure, the scientists said that is a feature of glaciated areas which is called a ‘pyramidal peaked mountain’.

“The pyramid-shaped structures are located in the Ellsworth Mountains, which is a range more than 400 km long, so it’s no surprise there are rocky peaks cropping out above the ice. The peaks are clearly composed of rock, and it’s a coincidence that this particular peak has that shape,” said Dr Mitch Darcy, a geologist at the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, while speaking to IFLScience.

“It’s not a complicated shape, so it’s not a special coincidence either. By definition, it is a nunatak, which is simply a peak of rock sticking out above a glacier or an ice sheet. This one has the shape of a pyramid, but that doesn’t make it a human construction,” Darcy added.

Argentina-sized amount of sea ice missing

Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, amid the record-breaking summer, the sea ice did not return to anywhere near the expected levels. Since recordkeeping started 45 years ago, it remained at the lowest level at this time of the year.

WATCH | Antarctica’s sea ice at record low as effects of climate change take shape

The National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) said that the ice was around 1.6 million square kilometres (0.6 million square miles) below the previous winter’s lowest record set in 2022.

In July, the sea ice was 2.6 million square kilometres (1 million square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average in Antarctica. This is equal to the size of Argentina or the combined areas of Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

Glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder Ted Scambos said, “The game has changed. There’s no sense talking about the odds of it happening the way the system used to be, it’s clearly telling us that the system has changed.” 

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