Posted on 06/13/2014 12:23:50 PM PDT by Eurotwit
Scientists say rock layer hundreds of miles down holds vast amount of water, opening up new theories on how planet formed
After decades of searching scientists have discovered that a vast reservoir of water, enough to fill the Earth’s oceans three times over, may be trapped hundreds of miles beneath the surface, potentially transforming our understanding of how the planet was formed.
The water is locked up in a mineral called ringwoodite about 660km (400 miles) beneath the crust of the Earth, researchers say. Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University in the US co-authored the study published in the journal Science and said the discovery suggested Earth’s water may have come from within, driven to the surface by geological activity, rather than being deposited by icy comets hitting the forming planet as held by the prevailing theories.
“Geological processes on the Earth’s surface, such as earthquakes or erupting volcanoes, are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight,” Jacobsen said.
“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.”
Jacobsen and his colleagues are the first to provide direct evidence that there may be water in an area of the Earth’s mantle known as the transition zone. They based their findings on a study of a vast underground region extending across most of the interior of the US.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Thanks for posting that. Is God an amazing Creator or what?
This is an old theory I think....Mentioned in a circa 1850 book.
Of course there is more water in the earth that can be seen in the oceans as all that water from Noah’s Great Flood had to come from somewhere and go somewhere.
This could be the key to colonizing Mars..
Well, the Great Flood had to have drained somewhere.
I never could swallow all that comets-hitting-the-Earth-filled-the-oceans nonsense.
‘on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.’
The Bible is so stupid, there was never vast amounts of water trapped underground.
It’s not free water. It is chemically bound up in the rocks.
Well duh! Ever heard of Jules Verne? Hello............ They even made a couple of “documentaries” about it. LOL! I’m thinkin’ the evil Koch brothers are paying to keep it hidden from us.
The bible does say that during the Great Flood of Noah that the earth broke open and the water came from the depths of the earth.
Hmmm...I take the Bible as literal, and accept the biblical version of the flood, but the math doesn’t quite add up in this case.
If the surface of the earth is 3/4 covered by water, how can the remaining 1/4 contain enough underground water to fill the rest 3 times over?
Enough to cover the earth 1x? I’ll accept that...
But what is your horse’s name?
You know, there was a book I had many years ago that pretty much predicted this. The gentleman was talking about how the crust behaves, and how it is not like you would expect molten rock to behave.
I will have to dig though my library to find it.
It’s Ø’s fault...
The Receeder-in-chief made them receed. 660 km of receed... that’s some impressive receeding!
Due to plate tectonics, the water below the surface was once on the surface. It still could have come from comets and asteroids. At any rate, water was part of the nebula surrounding the sun from which the planets formed.
You’re just trying to cause trouble...
8^)
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