Imagine a vast reservoir of water three times the volume of all of Earth’s oceans combined, hidden hundreds of miles beneath our feet. A reservoir so large it cannot be seen, embedded in the Earth’s mantle. It may seem like something out of the realm of science fiction, but scientists have uncovered evidence of this amazing underground water source.
This colossal reservoir of water is not, as might be expected, in vast underground lakes or rivers. Instead, it is embedded deep in the Earth’s mantle, some 400 miles below the surface.
The water is contained within a blue rock known as “ringwoodite” which acts like a sponge and traps the water within its crystalline structure. This remarkable molecular structure is not liquid, solid, or gaseous, but a fourth state of water that is firmly locked in the rocks of the mantle.
The discovery was made by a team of scientists from Northwestern University in Illinois led by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen. Researchers used seismometers to measure the waves that produce earthquakes in the United States. They found that these waves were not confined to the Earth’s surface but traveled through the planet’s core. By analyzing the speed and depth of these waves, the researchers were able to determine the type of rock that contained the water: ringwoodite.
Studies have shown that ringwoodite can contain up to 1.5% water. If subsurface ringwoodite contains only 1% water in its molecular structure, that would mean that it contains three times more water than all of the surface oceans combined.
This amazing discovery has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of how the Earth formed and the origin of its water. This reinforces the theory that Earth’s water originated from within and was not supplied by asteroids and comets.
“I think we’re finally seeing evidence of an Earthwide water cycle that could help explain the vast amount of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet,” Jacobsen said. “Scientists have been searching for this deep, hidden water for decades.”
So far, the presence of ringwoodite has only been confirmed below the surface of the United States. Jacobsen and his team are keen to determine if this remarkable layer extends across the globe. This hidden world of water, hidden deep in the Earth’s mantle, offers an unprecedented opportunity to expand our knowledge of our planet’s history and the dynamic processes that shaped it.