Explore the vast ocean beneath the Earth’s surface
Some scientific discoveries and achievements have mesmerized the world. Amazing discoveries, from Supermassive black hole to Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea setting a record high temperature, continue to blow people’s minds. Now another scientific news has caught the attention of social media.
The news is that scientists have discovered a huge ocean deep below the surface. This water is accumulated in the rock called ‘ Ringwoodite ‘ 700 km below the earth’s surface. This subterranean reservoir is about three times the volume of all the surface oceans combined.
A 2014 scientific paper presented detailed information about this ocean. The paper titled ‘Dehydration Melting at the Top of the Lower Mantle’ has been published. It highlights the various properties of Ringwood.
” Ringwoodite e is like a sponge that absorbs water,” said lead study geophysicist Steve Jacobsen. Ringwoodite‘s crystal structure has something special that helps it attract hydrogen and hold water.’
He also said, ‘Finally we can see the evidence of the whole world’s water cycle. This may help explain the large amount of water on the surface of our habitable planet. Scientists have been searching for this missing deep water for decades.
When studying earthquakes, researchers use seismometers to detect shockwaves under the earth’s surface. And this is how scientists found this ocean.
Scientists have found that the minerals in the Earth’s mantle can store a lot of water in the transition zone, suggesting the existence of a deep reservoir. This can lead to dehydration and melting processes.
Dehydration melting happens in specific parts of the Earth’s mantle when minerals with water are exposed to high temperatures and pressures.
“We studied how minerals from the transition zone move into the lower mantle using laboratory experiments, numerical modelling, and seismic analysis,” they said further.
Scientists also found molten granular minerals in the transition zone. These results raise the possibility that a large region of the transition zone contains water. Dehydration may act to trap water in the melting transition zone.
