Ocean Under the Crust: Massive Water Formation Found Beneath the Planet

Recently, great science news has been breaking every other day, all of which have blown our small little minds.

Scientific Discovery

A gigantic hole was found in the sun, a scary black hole pointed directly at humanity, and a continent that had been absent for 375 years was finally uncovered.

People are only now beginning to understand that the Earth's crust conceals a sizable ocean, the Independent reported.

It comes out that a vast reservoir of water is hidden 400 miles beneath the surface in a rock called "ringwoodite."

Water is previously found to be preserved inside mantle rock in a sponge-like condition that is neither a liquid nor a solid nor a gas, but rather a fourth state.

The results were presented in a 2014 scientific paper titled "Dehydration melting near the top of the lower mantle."

Also Read: Is the Earth's Core Spinning on the Opposite Direction?  

Finding Water Underneath

Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen once said, "The ringwoodite is like a sponge, sucking up water. There is something unusual about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that permits it to attract hydrogen and trap water."

According to Jacobsen, a research team member that made the finding, "This mineral may contain a lot of water under circumstances of the deep mantle."

"I believe we are finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water cycle, which may help explain the tremendous volume of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet," he continued.

For many years, scientists have been searching for this missing deep water.

After researching earthquakes and learning that seismometers were picking up shockwaves beneath the Earth's surface, scientists made the discoveries at the time.

They determined that the water was contained in the ringwoodite rock.

Three times as much water beneath the Earth's surface as in its oceans, even if the rock only had 1% water.

Exploring the Earth

There are still some regions that humans still need to explore on Earth extensively.

One of these sites is the ocean. It encompasses a variety of habitats and covers more than 70% of Earth's surface.

Some of these ecosystems are well understood, such as the mangrove and kelp forests that border our coastlines and the polar seas at the North and South Poles.

But there is still a lot we still need to learn about far-off, enigmatic locations like the deep sea.

Where did the Water Come From?

Some scientists believe frozen comet impacts on Earth created the planet's oceans.

Nevertheless, recent findings point to a different genesis for the oceans: they merely seeped out of the Earth's core.

The discovery, which was reported in Science, shows that a water reservoir may be located more than 400 miles beneath the surface of the Earth in the mantle.

Avoid picturing vast underground seas; all of this water, three times as much as water on the surface, is confined under rocks.

This study advances our knowledge of the intricate processes involved in water movement through the atmosphere, the oceans, and the land.

Related Article: Midnight Came Earlier: Is the Earth Spinning Faster?  

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