{"id":477014,"date":"2026-05-09T23:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477014\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:21:10","slug":"scientists-discovered-a-hidden-underground-structure-beneath-america-that-could-dangerously-amplify-future-solar-storms-and-massive-power-grid-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477014\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discovered a hidden underground structure beneath America that could dangerously amplify future solar storms and massive power grid failures"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul id=\"elk-9a541df8-adaa-4508-9353-8cea6d8e6901\">\n<li><strong>Ancient underground rocks could sharply intensify solar storm damage across eastern America<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hidden crust beneath the United States redirects dangerous electrical currents upward<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scientists mapped a buried geological structure stretching from Maine to Georgia<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"elk-6e73c24b-1133-4598-9983-ac4130f7d51d\">Buried deep beneath the eastern United States lies a massive chunk of ancient crust that has remained hidden from scientists for millions of years, but it is not harmless.<\/p>\n<p>This lost basement, known as the Piedmont Resistor, runs from Maine all the way down to Georgia.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-6e73c24b-1133-4598-9983-ac4130f7d51d-2\">It measures roughly 200 kilometers thick and was formed during the violent breakup of the supercontinent, Pangaea, during the Jurassic Period about 200 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Latest Videos From<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/media\/img\/techradar_logo_v2.svg\" alt=\"\" class=\"block h-[18px] w-auto shrink-0 brightness-0 invert\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/media\/img\/techradar_logo_v2.svg\" alt=\"\" class=\"max-h-12 w-auto\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p>    <a id=\"elk-c07b6020-c141-490a-a450-155678e50a90\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>Listening to the Earth&#8217;s electrical whispers<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-cd2c02fb-d1e2-4575-bef2-e58e65bd58c0\">The National Science Foundation funded a Magnetotelluric Array, a network of 1,800 temporary stations placed across the United States to study this palaeo-basement.<\/p>\n<p>These stations measured how well deep rocks conduct electricity by detecting currents induced by shifting magnetic fields in the upper atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Bedrosian, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey, said the array&#8217;s final map reveals hidden structures that seismic studies could not detect.<\/p>\n<p>The Piedmont Resistor gets its name because it blocks and redirects electrical currents rather than allowing them to pass through, as most surrounding rocks do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!<\/p>\n<p>The igneous rocks in this deep-seated basement, which is now buried by silt from eroding mountains, are likely associated with the volcanic eruptions that took place as Pangaea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-0f7dd405-eb58-4aca-aa8b-3127fc8952a6\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>The risk this lost continent poses to power grids and data centers<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-f7b6ff15-3767-478c-a1da-028c2c3d818f\">When a solar storm disturbs Earth&#8217;s magnetosphere, it induces powerful electrical currents deep within the planetary crust.<\/p>\n<p>Most rocks allow these currents to spread out and dissipate harmlessly over large areas without causing damage.<\/p>\n<p>            What to read next<\/p>\n<p>The Piedmont Resistor does not behave like most rocks; it forces those currents to move upward and concentrate in shallower rock layers, much closer to human infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Anna Kelbert, a geophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics, says this geology can make the risks of solar storms 1,000 times worse in regions with this type of underground Basement.<\/p>\n<p>The concentration of electrical currents puts transformers and other grid equipment at much higher risk of catastrophic failure.<\/p>\n<p>A severe solar storm could knock out power across large portions of the eastern United States for days or even weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Modern <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/best-data-center-proxies\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/best-data-center-proxies\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/best-data-center-proxies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">data centers<\/a> depend entirely on stable electricity to keep their servers running around the clock.<\/p>\n<p>Widespread transformer damage would also disable backup generators, because fuel supply chains rely on the same vulnerable electrical grid.<\/p>\n<p>Federal hazard maps have been updated to reflect these geological risks, but most utility companies are not using the new data.<\/p>\n<p>Kelbert warned that the utilities are falling behind, and no government agency is currently forcing them to update their infrastructure plans.<\/p>\n<p>Just like the sun, the Piedmont Resistor is not going anywhere, and the only question is whether power companies will prepare before the next big solar storm arrives.<\/p>\n<p>Via <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/deep-earth-map-reveals-lost-u-s-continent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/deep-earth-map-reveals-lost-u-s-continent\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\">Science<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-6e2ac97f-f15f-4964-a682-e49dd6f4c549\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>Follow TechRadar on Google News<\/strong><\/a> and<a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <strong>add us as a preferred source<\/strong><\/a> to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n<p>And of course you can also<a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <strong>follow TechRadar on TikTok<\/strong><\/a> for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on<a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" data-url=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <strong>WhatsApp<\/strong><\/a> too.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ancient underground rocks could sharply intensify solar storm damage across eastern America Hidden crust beneath the United States&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-477014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116547190282849623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}