05.04.2023
A recent study reported that huge quantities of fresh water may be trapped in one of the layers of the earth, and that the volume of this water is many times the volume of water on the surface of the earth. Scientists say that the study may open the door to how water appeared on the surface of our planet.
Geologists say they believe there is a vast ocean of fresh water hidden beneath the Earth’s crust.
A recent research study indicates that there is a huge supply of water located 400 miles underground stored in a rock known as Ringwoodite. Scientists from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said a reservoir of water three times the size of all Earth’s oceans has been discovered deep within the planet’s surface.
It is worth noting that this discovery can help explain the origin of the water on Planet EarthSpecifically, it may help us determine the source of the seas and oceans and possibly help us better understand life on our planet.
Scientists had previously discovered that water is stored within the “mantle rock” region – one of the layers of the globe – in a sponge-like state, which is neither liquid, solid nor gaseous, but a fourth state instead. A study was published in 2014 about that strange physical state of water.
Scientists reached those results at the time after studying earthquakes and discovering that seismographs were picking up shock waves below the surface of the earth. Later they were able to prove that water was trapped in the rock known as Ringwoodite.
The study indicated that the high water storage capacity in the Earth’s mantle (which has a thickness of 410 to 660 km) indicates the possibility of a huge reservoir of water, according to what was published by the “Futuresm” website.
Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen, one of the study’s co-authors, said: “Ringwoodite rocks are like a sponge, as they absorb water greatly due to the crystal structure of Ringwoodite, which allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water inside it.”
“This type of rock could contain a lot of water in the deep mantle,” Jacobsen, who was part of the team behind the discovery, added. “I think we are finally seeing evidence of the entire Earth’s water cycle, which may help explain the existence of That huge amount of liquid water on the surface of our planet… Scientists have been searching for this missing deep water for decades.”
Some scientists argue that Earth’s water likely came from asteroids or comets, which is the most prominent theory currently, as it indicates that Solar System At the beginning of its formation it was very hostile to water of any kind, especially with the sun sending out huge amounts of intense ultraviolet radiation that could break down water molecules by dehydrogenation From the water molecule, according to the “NDTV” website.
This prompted scientists to believe that ice It may have formed far in the solar system, and that bodies carrying it (comets or asteroids) subsequently collided with a cooler Earth over millions of years, first concentrating in the Earth’s interior, trapped within mantle rocks, and then gradually ejected to the surface by plate tectonics to form seas. And oceans, according to geophysicist Steve Jacobsen, who was one of the scientists responsible for the discovery.
Water covers about 71% of the surface of the planet, and according to the recent study, if the rock contains only 1% of the water on the surface of the earth, this means that the volume of water held in these rocks within the mantle layer is three times the volume of water in the oceans, given The huge size of these rocks in the heart of the earth.
Emad Hassan
