The Baltic Anomaly: Is it Natural…or Artificial?

The strange Baltic Anomaly continues to baffle the world. Recently, the Ocean X Team revealed the existence of odd “visible formations” that are similar to walls and a staircase. Just what is going on at the bottom of the Baltic Sea?

Background on the Baltic Anomaly

On June 19, 2011, the Ocean X Team used side-scan sonar to “photograph” a massive object deep in the Baltic Sea, approximately 260 feet below surface. Peter Lindberg, co-founder of the Ocean X Team, jokingly declared “Hey guys, we have a UFO!” However, after a new expedition, the Team discovered the Anomaly primarily consisted of large rocks. The exact nature of those rocks, which we call the Circle, as well as a 985 foot runway leading up to them (the Tracks), remain mysteries.

The Baltic Anomaly & Right Angles

A few days ago, Peter Lindberg provided some new information on the Anomaly to NTD Television. He described the Circle as having “visible formations” which were set at 90 degree angles. Supposedly, they look like “passageways or walls.” He also mentioned “something that looks like it could be a staircase.”

“We have experienced things that I really couldn’t imagine and I have been the team’s biggest skeptic regarding these different kind of theories. I was kind of prepared just to find a stone or cliff or outcrop or pile of mud but it was nothing like that, so for me it has been a missing experience I must say.” ~ Peter Lindberg, Ocean X Team, Interview with NTD Television

On June 25, Dennis Åsberg, the other co-founder of the Ocean X Team, participated in an interview with Sverige Radio. Unfortunately, the translation is a little difficult to understand. But from we can gather, the top of the Circle shows right angles and walls with perfectly smooth surfaces and cavities.

“When we went back and saw those walls were straight and smooth, then it was weird, like in a science-fiction film.” ~ Dennis Åsberg, Ocean X-Team, Interview with Sverige Radio

Yesterday, Dennis posted this sonar image on the Team’s Facebook page. It was taken with BlueView Technologies equipment. He described it as being “from one of the many corridors and rooms above the object.” Indeed, it appears to show a relatively straight right angle (albeit, not a perfect one).

Okay, so let’s get something straight here. Several sources have reported the existence of walls and corridors “inside” the Circle. We believe this is a misunderstanding, likely due to translation difficulties. Instead, it appears the “corridors” and “rooms” are merely carved out paths located on top of the Circle. The depth of these paths remains unknown.

Still, the presence of right angles as well as the rounded shape of the Circle have caused many people to believe the object must be artificial. After all, right angles don’t exist in nature right?

Right Angles in Nature?

Wrong. The right angle, contrary to popular opinion, does exist in nature. It’s not some secret invention of mankind. It is just as likely to appear in nature as any other angle. However, nature shows no bias toward the right angle while mankind, on the other hand, makes extensive use of it. Thus, when we see right angles in nature, we’re inclined to immediately suspect artificial origin.

Take these stones which were discovered in Peru in 2007. They formed massive walls covering an area of 40,000 square meters.  Because of their right angles, they were initially thought to be from the legendary lost Inca city of Paititi. However, after an investigation, researchers from the National Institute of Culture identified the stones as naturally-formed sandstone.

But what about the Circle itself? Surely, circular shapes don’t exist in nature right? Wrong again. For example, large sphere-shaped boulders (known as the Moeraki Boulders) line New Zealand’s Koekohe Beach. The local Māori considered these rocks to be the transformed remains of cargo lost in an ancient shipwreck. However, they were actually formed in a natural process reminiscent of how an oyster creates a pearl.

The Baltic Anomaly & Cognitive Bias

People suffer from a cognitive bias known as apophenia. In other words, we have the tendency to see patterns and make connections, even in random data. Thus, when we see naturally-occuring right angles on a giant rock, we are inclined to think of them as “walls” and “corridors.”

Currently, we don’t know much about the right angles found by the Ocean X Team. For example, we don’t know how many right angles they found, the sizes of those angles, where they found them, or how deep they cut into the Circle. So for now, we continue to believe these right angles are probably just a natural formation.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

We freely admit the Baltic Anomaly could be anything. But for the moment, we don’t see anything here to overturn our current theory. We continue to think the Baltic Anomaly was created, at least in part, by a series of black smokers. This would explain the black material inside the Circle (sulfur) as well as many other features of the Anomaly.
“We’ve speculated for awhile now that the Circle might’ve been created by now-extinguished hydrothermal vents, or black smokers. The biggest drawback to that theory has always been the lack of volcanic activity in the Baltic Sea. However, a hydrothermal vent doesn’t necessarily require a volcanically active location. They generally occur when seawater works its way beneath the Earth’s crust near subduction zones (subduction zones are places where two tectonic plates converge with each other). The seawater is heated by the steaming hot magma and spews back out into the sea along with dissolved minerals via fissures. These materials eventually cool and harden in the water.” ~ David Meyer, The Baltic Anomaly: The Ocean X Team Speaks!

Another possibility is that the Circle is a glacial erratic of some sort. The small circles of rocks found on top of it could be a moraine.

On its next expedition, the Ocean X Team plans to investigate the mysterious second object, which we have called “The Window.” According to the original side-scan sonar image, the Window was roughly 660 feet from the Circle. It was initially described as rectangular-shaped with “two arches” on top. It supposedly measured 120 feet across and looked a little like a “Gothic church window.” Hopefully, the Window will shed a little more light on the strange Baltic Anomaly.

 

Guerrilla Explorer’s Coverage of the Baltic Anomaly

Recent Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 28, 2012 - 9:16 pm · Reply

    it appere to me that you guys want it to be a natural..

    I mean, it COULD be natural for all we know.

    On the other hand, it could be very exciting stuff there.. problem is, YOU already maked up your mind.. strange. at least after read all your post about this stuff.. and wonder: Why are u doing it? are you envy or somthing?

  • David
    June 28, 2012 - 9:54 pm · Reply

    Hey there, just so you know we’ve got no dog in this fight. We don’t stand to benefit no matter what happens. But we do have a reputation to protect so we’ve got to call it like we see it.

    By the way, just because we think it’s of natural origin doesn’t mean we find it any less fascinating. Looking back, we’ve devoted 17 posts to it already!

    If you have a theory you’d like to share, let me know!

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