While browsing Google Maps for information about caves and limestone rocks in a region of South Australia, a person discovered something so unusual that it left scientists astounded.
It’s not uncommon for people to find strange things on Google Maps, such as solving decades-old mysteries through the discovery of a vehicle on the platform. A similar event occurred when a person exploring the Nullarbor Plain region in South Australia made a remarkable discovery.
During their exploration, the person noticed a pattern resembling a wound on Google Maps, located 20 kilometers north of the Trans-Australian Railway Line. The pattern was large, measuring 11 kilometers in length and 250 meters in width.
Metaj Leper, a researcher in geological sciences at Curtin University in Australia, conducted an investigation into the discovery. By reviewing Google’s older satellite images, Leper found that this unusual pattern first appeared between November 16 and 18, 2022.
Leper explained that the “wound-like” pattern was accompanied by blue circular patterns, which indicated the presence of water collected from heavy rainfall. Further investigation revealed that the pattern was likely caused by a large, unknown dust storm that no one had previously detected.
The research team visited the location and checked historical weather data. Leper found that a combination of environmental factors in November 2022 could have caused such severe weather. Cloud images suggested that on November 17, 2022, the region was heavily clouded, with nearby weather stations recording heavy rainfall, which formed the wound-like pattern.
Since the area has no human settlements, the massive dust storm likely went unnoticed in November 2022. Researchers believe the winds of the storm reached speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and lasted between 7 to 13 minutes.
The findings of this research were published in the Journal of Southern Hampshire Earth Systems Science.
