Missing: A Big Hunk of Earth's Crust

Nope, not in here. Keep looking!

Turns out, and I was just as shocked to hear it as you, that a large piece of the Earth's crust is, uh, missing.

Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometres in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earth’s crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle - the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many kilometres thick - is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface.

Marine geologist Dr Chris MacLeod, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences said: "This discovery is like an open wound on the surface of the Earth. Was the crust never there? Was it once there but then torn away on huge geological faults? If so, then how and why?"

To answer some of these questions Dr MacLeod with a team of scientists, led by marine geophysicist Professor Roger Searle, Durham University, will travel to the area which lies mid-way between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean.

Where could it be?

My guess is that Dick Cheney stole it. I don't know what he plans to do with it, but you know it's gonna be evil.