World’s Largest Water Reservoir Un’earth’ed
Researchers from Northwestern University and University of New Mexico have discovered the largest water reservoir of earth, which lies 640 km beneath our feet-bound up in rock in earth’s mantle.
Water in the reservoir is not in a form familiar to us – it is not liquid, ice or vapour.
This fourth form is water trapped inside the molecular structure of the minerals in the mantle rock.
We are finally seeing evidence for a whole-earth water cycle that may help explain the vast amount of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet. Scientists have been looking for this missing deep water for decades,” explained geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University.
The findings, published in the journal Science, will aid scientists in understanding how the earth formed, what its current composition and inner workings are and how much water is trapped in mantle rock.
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