Earth’s biggest secret mountains 100x taller than Everest are discovered…but you’ll never get to climb them
Earth’s biggest secret mountains 100x taller than Everest are discovered…but you’ll never get to climb them
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MOUNT Everest has long been considered the tallest mountain on Earth, but new research reveals it might not even come close. Scientists have now uncovered two colossal mountains that are a staggering 100 times taller than the iconic Himalayan peak. But don’t grab your climbing gear just yet as these giant formations are buried 1,200 miles beneath the planet’s surface.
![[Mount Everest peak above clouds in Tibet.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/peak-mount-everest-clouds-tibet-926452868.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Discovered at the boundary between Earth’s mantle and core, these so-called “Large Low-Shear-Velocity Provinces” (LLSVPs) stretch a staggering 620 miles high — dwarfing Everest’s summit of around 5.5miles. Located beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean, the mountains are part of a “graveyard” of tectonic plates buried by subduction, a process where one plate sinks beneath another.
![[Aerial view of the Himalayas, including Mount Everest.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/aerial-view-himalaya-range-mount-928628916.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The mountains’ existence has been a mystery since the 1990s, when researchers noticed seismic waves from earthquakes slowed down at specific points deep underground. Using seismic “X-rays,” scientists at Utrecht University pieced together a clearer image of these massive structures.
![[Illustration of two 620-mile tall mountains beneath the Earth's surface, compared to Mount Everest.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TOB-GRAPHIC-SECRET-MOUNTAINS.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Large earthquakes cause the planet to ring like a bell, and it will sound ‘out of tune’ when it hits anomalous objects such as the LLSVPs. These “out of tune” vibrations revealed not just the size but also the ancient origins of the LLSVPs. While the mantle—Earth’s thickest layer—is known for flowing like a viscous liquid over geological timescales, the LLSVPs seem to defy this.
![[Illustration of Earth's cross-section showing LLSVP location, seismic wave velocity, and damping.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/c69fc746-2ed1-47a8-9d30-573873653772_af4f57.jpg?strip=all&w=350)
