Scientists Discover Underground Ocean 3 Times Larger Than All Surface Oceans Combined

New Research by Northwestern University’s team has found that a massive ocean lies 700 km under the earth’s surface, deep within the mantle.

This raises questions about the earth’s water cycle and challenges the assumptions about the origin of water on the planet.

Per scientists, this underground water source is three times bigger than all oceans combined. However, this ocean is not made of water in its liquid form, rather the water is locked within a crystal structure of a blue rock called ringwoodite.

Led by Steven Jacobson, the team used more than 2,000 seismographs across the United States to track seismic waves from over 500 earthquakes. These waves slowed at certain depths, which signals the presence of rocks filled with water.

They measured the speed of the waves at different depths and found water trapped inside the mantle.

This new finding is significant because it suggests that the water cycle might have more complex and deep origins than earlier thought.

It is believed that water came from the comets that struck our planet, but now scientists consider that water could have come up from the planet’s interior itself over the course of millions of years.

This underground water reservoir could play a vital role in regulating the stability of the earth’s surface water, cycling water between the surface and interior of the planet.

Additional research is being planned to determine if similar water reservoirs exist elsewhere in the world.

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Source: Maritime Shipping News