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Some of Earth’s oldest water found
Pakistan Today ^ | May 20, 2013 | News Desk

Posted on 06/09/2013 7:06:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

"Old" might not top the list of the adjectives you'd use to describe water, but that could very well change after reading this story: Scientists say they've found water whose age clocks in at no less than 1.5 billion years, making it the oldest cache to have ever been discovered. (As the BBC explains, the only water to top it is "minute quantities" contained in some rock minerals.) Gold miners in Timmins, Ontario, were the ones who uncovered the water while drilling into bedrock; NPR reports that the team behind the discovery had been requesting such samples from a number of mines; a trio of dating techniques revealed this particular water to be remarkable -- between 1.5 billion and 2.6 billion years old. The BBC reports the water likely didn't begin its ancient life 1.5 miles beneath the surface: It would have seeped from above ground through the earth, eventually becoming trapped. As a geochemist involved in the study explains, "The fluids that we see now are actually preservations of ancient oceans." But that may not be the most interesting part: The water, which contains a good deal of hydrogen, could hold ancient life, too, and the scientists are currently testing samples to see if that's the case. And if it is, that could fuel hope that the same kind of life persists on Mars, which was once covered in oceans as well.

(Excerpt) Read more at pakistantoday.com.pk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: canada; godsgravesglyphs; ontario
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To: redhead

“tly. they might mean it’s water that hasn’t seen sunlight in umpty-ump years, but it’s the same age as all the rest of the water in the world.”

That statement is false nonsense, because water molecules are constantly being destroyed and created throughout every day. During the past 4.6 billion years much of the primordial water molecules have been destroyed and replaced with with newer water molecules created by the ongoing inorganic and organic chemical processes naturally occuring.


41 posted on 06/09/2013 11:39:46 PM PDT by WhiskeyX (The answer is very simple and easy to understand economics. The U.S. Treasury is printing vast)
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To: SunkenCiv

That’s some old water man...


42 posted on 06/10/2013 3:22:15 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: SunkenCiv

Best part is that it gives you that special glow when you drink it.


43 posted on 06/10/2013 4:44:11 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead...)
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To: Free Vulcan; mowowie

If they keep looking around, they should find the oldest car that runs on water, man.


44 posted on 06/11/2013 3:51:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (McCain or Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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