Earth’s Secret Ocean Discovered, Holds More Water Than The Surface
In the wake of massive scientific discoveries such as Mars’ flowing lava oceans and Earth’s hidden alien world buried inside its mantle, scientists have been stumbling into staggering new data around every corner. The latest discovery, as shared by Indy100, suggests that there is a massive secret ocean beneath the Earth’s crust that contains significantly more water than all of the oceanic bodies on the surface.
The untapped water supply resides over 400 miles underground within rock deposits known as ringwoodite, and may allow scientists to tap into a number of fascinating discoveries.
The Water Defies Our Understanding Of Matter
Scientists have been puzzling over the supposed existence of a secret ocean of this nature for years, with a number of researchers estimating that the water molecules exist in a state of matter outside of our comprehension. According to a recently published dossier on the findings, the water stored within the mantle rock exists in a sponge-like state, defying our usual understanding of basic solid, liquid, and gas.
This sponge-like nature is due to the soaking abilities of the ringwoodite, which crystallizes hydrogen into a series of porous minerals, trapping water inside.
Earthquakes Led To This Finding
This spongey structure was discovered during a recent study of earthquakes using complex seismometers, which determined a measure of over 1 percent water, accounting for over three times the overall water on the surface. This secret ocean study also unlocked a number of interesting findings surrounding inner-Earth shockwaves, which reverberate when tectonic plates see major shifts.
Ringwoodite In Earth’s Crust
The high volume quantities of porous ringwoodite allow a layer of minerals within the Earth’s crust to retain such a great deal of water that it exceeds the combined volume of all oceans on our planet’s massive spherical surface. Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen, who has studied the secret ocean for nearly a decade, determined that the water exists within a deeply embedded water cycle, regulating the vast amount of liquid water on our planet.
This answers a number of long-held questions posited by the scientific community, which previously left researchers scratching their heads as to how the Earth never seems to be at a net loss for water, even in historically dry years.
The Positive Impact On Climate Change
The water cycle, regulated by the fluids from the secret ocean, inhibit a constant stream of water ready to fill in ocean beds at all times. This news could be a positive development for climate scientists as well, as tapping into this region of crystal silicate could provide additional cooling materials for the Earth as global temperatures continue to wreak havoc on our little blue marble.
A Flourising Ecosystem Yet To Be Explored
Finally, scientists are stating that the secret ocean contains an entire ecosystem of unstudied materials, which were discovered deep within the volcanic crust of the ringwoodite. While there seem to be no major announcements regarding these new findings, updated papers and studies are certain to follow in the coming weeks.
As NASA scientists and researchers continue to find incredible discoveries deep within the vast expanses of space, discoveries such as the secret ocean help us to understand that there are many more secrets left to unearth here on our home planet.
