Search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 uncovers hidden undersea world

New Delhi: The search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370, that had disappeared three years ago with 239 people on board, has led to the discovery of a previously unknown undersea world of volcanoes, deep valleys and soaring ridges, as per a report.

Although no trace of the missing Boeing 777 could be found in the southern Indian Ocean, yet the hunt led to the discovery of this unknown undersea world.

Scientists are hopeful the new maps will give their community greater insight into oceans.

"It is estimated that only 10 to 15 per cent of the world's oceans have been surveyed with the kind of technology used in the search for MH370," Geoscience Australia's environmental geoscience chief Stuart Minchin said late yesterday.

"(That makes) this remote part of the Indian Ocean among the most thoroughly mapped regions of the deep ocean on the planet.

"So this data is unique both because of the remote location of the search area, and because of the sheer scale of the area surveyed."

Minchin said the maps would also be useful for future scientific research, such as oceanographic and habitat modelling.

The hunt -- based on satellite analysis of the jet's likely trajectory after it diverted from its flight path -- covered a 120,000 square-kilometre (46,000 square mile) designated zone, an area slightly smaller than England.

Two shipwrecks were discovered during the search but no trace of the plane, deepening one the most enduring mysteries of the aviation age.

However, the data revealed ridges six kilometres (3.73 miles) wide and 15 kilometres long that rise 1,500 metres above the sea floor, as well as fault valleys 1,200 metres deep and five kilometres wide.

A second set of data will be released in mid-2018.

(With Agency inputs)