Earth Has A Pulse Every 26 Seconds And Scientists Have No Idea Why

NDTV

03-06-2025

Somewhere deep beneath our feet, the Earth appears to be pulsing quietly and rhythmically, every 26 seconds. This faint tremor, too subtle for humans to feel, has baffled scientists for decades. Detected by seismometers across continents, the mysterious "heartbeat" has no confirmed explanation, yet it continues to thump-unchanged, unexplained.
First observed in the early 1960s by geophysicist Jack Oliver, the phenomenon-known as a "microseism", was traced to somewhere in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, and was stronger during certain seasons. But without modern tools, Oliver's work remained largely theoretical, the Discover Magazine reported.
It wasn't until 2005, when researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder stumbled upon the same signal using digital seismic data, that the mystery returned to the scientific spotlight. "We saw something strange, consistent, and persistent," says seismologist Mike Ritzwoller, recalling the moment his team rediscovered the pulse. They traced it to the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of West Africa.
But what causes it?
One theory suggests it's the result of powerful ocean waves striking the continental shelf-much like the vibration you feel across a desk when someone taps it on one end. Another theory, proposed by Chinese scientists in 2013, points to volcanic activity near Sao Tome Island in the Bight of Bonny-suspiciously close to the pulse's origin.
Despite decades of study and multiple teams examining the phenomenon from different angles, there is no consensus. "We're still waiting for the fundamental explanation," Ritzwoller admits. Some scientists have even stopped prioritising it, calling it an "intriguing but low-impact" riddle compared to larger seismic research questions.
Still, the fact remains: every 26 seconds, Earth ticks like a metronome- its source, purpose, and persistence a mystery hidden beneath ocean waves and volcanic rock.
And perhaps the most haunting part? It hasn't stopped.