Under the earth’s surface there is probably a subsurface ocean.
One of the basic conditions of life on any planet is water. Our Earth has the advantage that, thanks to the interior of the Earth’s mantle and mantle rains, we do not have to worry that our surface oceans will disappear. In addition, the ocean beneath the earth’s crust could possibly be the key to a habitable planet, according to a scientific model. Can we prove its existence?
Although we are currently concerned about the ever-rising levels of the world’s oceans, which will bury many islands and cities in the future, in reality the Earth’s habitability is easier because the sea level on Earth remains relatively stable for billions of years. As geologists at the University of Clermont Auvergne in France have shown, Denis Andrault a Nathalie Bolfan-Casanit used to be completely different.
Watch a video of what’s below the earth’s surface here:
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Source: Youtube
Even in other cosmic bodies, water is often hidden beneath the surface, as we know from the study of, for example, the moons of Saturn. So large surface oceans like on Earth are more of an anomaly. There are many theories about the formation of surface water on Earth, most of which speak of the effects of comets and / or condensation of water vapor after the onset of volcanic activity. However, it seems that the surface water on Earth is mainly due to the ocean under the earth’s crust. Recently, there has been more and more evidence of this “underground sea”.
Our Earth has surface oceans, but probably one below the surface.
Water and Earth’s mantle
Geologists have constructed a model that shows that almost twice as much water enters the Earth’s mantle than is released back to the surface. In the first few hundred kilometers below the earth’s surface, inside the Earth, there is another subsurface ocean. However, it has a completely different form from our surface oceans and it could be said that it is only water in the freest sense of the word. It is decomposed into complex hydrogen and oxygen atoms and chemically bound to the surrounding rocks.
The geological team managed to prove on a new model that the water circulating in this cycle is in far greater quantities than we thought. As a result, the already mentioned mantle rains are formed, which are the result of the complete saturation of the solid rock in the mantle with chemically dissociated water. This water-rich slurry seeps back to the earth’s crust and, like the water cycle between the atmosphere, glaciers and any body of water on Earth, affects sea levels, rainfall and drought, and has a direct impact on the Earth’s habitability.
It is the stability of the entire water cycle that ensures that there are such ideal conditions on our Earth.
What are mantle rains?
According to a team of geologists, the layer, located about 410 kilometers below the surface, can retain a large amount of water, which should remain there as in a reservoir. The rock or mineral under the earth’s surface that binds water is called ringwoodite and is formed by compressing olivine with great pressure and temperature. Its extensive deposits lie about 500 kilometers below the earth’s surface and about 1.5% of the mineral’s weight is dehydrated water, which can be variously transformed into various states and forms of water.
However, this means that because the cycle is not balanced and more water flows inside the mantle than out, it is possible that in the future the water on Earth will decrease and most of it will be locked in the mantle.
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However, the new model showed that mantle rain could be enough to maintain the balance of the deep water cycle. It also depends on how deep the water-retaining rock sinks into the mantle. As the rock decreases, rising temperatures and pressures cause the rocks to melt and release water.
It is this “melting” that dissolves the rock that eventually goes so far that the slurry becomes lighter and lighter as it begins to rise. “Water binds to the minerals in the upper shell and lowers their melting point, which causes more melting, releasing more water – and the cycle continues.” claims Andrault.
We do not yet know whether this is the only way to transport water to the surface, but it is possible that there are more. For example Yoshinori Miyazaki, an Earth and planet scientist at the California Institute of Technology, believes that water does not want to remain in the rock stage, but likes to transform into a melt and move. But in order to get a clear result, we need further research. What is certain, however, is that the water will not disappear from the Earth’s surface. And if a water reservoir the size of a new ocean is actually hidden beneath the earth’s crust, sea levels are likely to remain more or less stable for a long time.
Resources:
www.popsci.com, zoom.iprima.cz, www.huffpost.com
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