Massive ocean discovered beneath the Earth's crust containing more water than on the surface

The News Democracy ^ | Harry Fletcher

[Eleutheria5]

Scientists previously discovered that water is stored inside mantle rock in a sponge-like state, which isn’t a liquid, solid or a gas, but instead a fourth state.

The scientific paper titled ‘Dehydration melting at the top of the lower mantle’ was published in 2014 and laid out the findings.

"The ringwoodite is like a sponge, soaking up 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 at the time.

"This mineral can contain a lot of water under conditions of the deep mantle,” added Jacobsen, who was part of the team behind the discovery.

He added: "I think we are finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water cycle, which 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."

Scientists made the findings at the time after studying earthquakes and discovering that seismometers were picking up shockwaves under the surface of the Earth.

From that, they were able to establish that the water was being held in the rock known as ringwoodite.

If the rock contained just 1 per cent water, it would mean that there is three times more water under the surface of the Earth than there is in the oceans on the surface.

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[fireman15]

I apologize I didn’t really mean to discount your post. I often respond without considering all of the implications.
This discovery is something very interesting and demonstrates once again that our understanding of the physical world is still a long way from being complete. And as you point out the repercussions are often not well understood either.

[minnesota_bound]

I once dug down to China. On the way I got all wet.

[Ezekiel]

Glad you are enjoying new-found treasure.

Another nice thing about the vast content, is that so much can be used as a springboard to bounce into an internet search for the sources or more information about any particular subject.

Maybe nothing seemingly important as far as search engines ‘think’, so I suspect they leave the information unmolested for the most part.

The extensive TOC and index add to its research value.

[Moltke]

Pretty stupid calling it a “massive ocean”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_of_crystallization

Some of these crystals are what’s in the little baggy that says “do not eat” and comes in the package of your new phone to absorb moisture.

[for-q-clinton]

Kamala can get all the water out of it.