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Mar 11, 2024

The Indian Ocean Has the World’s Largest Gravity ‘Black Hole’ and It’s Finally Explained

Posted by in category: cosmology

Due to the world’s largest gravity hole, the sea level in a large part of the Indian Ocean is up to 106 m (348 ft) lower than the rest of the world. We have just understood what causes this huge ‘black hole.’

If you look at a map of Earth’s gravity, you will see a huge blue spot south of India, indicating a region where gravity is weaker than average. This spot is called the Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL), and it is the largest gravity anomaly on our planet.

A gravity anomaly is a difference between the actual gravity measured at a location and the theoretical gravity expected for a perfectly smooth and spherical Earth. But Earth’s gravity isn’t perfectly uniform and variations in mass distribution beneath the surface cause fluctuations in gravitational pull.

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