JAKARTA – One by one the mysteries of nature continue to be revealed. This time it comes from the Earth where we stand. Far below it turns out there is a kind of vast ocean, containing more water than on the surface of the Earth.
This large water supply some 400 miles underground is stored in a rock known as ‘ringwoodite’.
Scientists previously discovered that water is stored in mantle rocks in a sponge-like form, which is neither liquid, solid, nor gas, but rather a fourth form.
“Ringwoodite is like a sponge, absorbing water, there is something very special about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water,” said geophysicist Steve Jacobsen in a scientific paper entitled Melting Dehydration in the Upper Lower Mantle, quoted from Indy 100, Saturday (9/9/2023).
This mineral, he said, can contain a lot of water in the deep mantle.
“I think we are finally seeing evidence of a water cycle throughout the Earth, which may help explain the abundance of liquid water on the surface of habitable planets. Scientists have been searching for this missing deep water for decades,” he said.
Scientists made this discovery after studying earthquake and discovered that seismometers picked up shock waves beneath the Earth’s surface.
From there, they determined that water was trapped in a rock called ringwoodite. If the rock contains only 1 percent water, this means that there is three times as much water under the earth’s surface as there is in the ocean on the surface.
This is also not the only significant discovery that scientists have made recently. In fact, researchers discovered a completely new ecosystem when turning over a volcanic crust with the help of underwater robots, showing that even today, nature still has more confidential to dig.
(msf)
2023-09-09 15:22:20
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