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 ...
Volume versus area - The oceans cover 3/4 of the earth’s surface area. They don’t comprise 3/4 of the earth’s total volume.
Dang! I always wondered what happened to all that rain water that caused Noah’s flood! Now I know, it went down the drain.
...”may have”...”may be...”
Yeah, right.
How are they going to ship it to Mars? I say just ship it to California.
It’s my fault. I’ve been hoarding it in my underground bunker, and apparently there’s a leak.
I have no problem with that statement.
I wonder though if God would consider his work of creation "natural" or "supernatural"?
The "miracle" of telecommunications may seem "mighty" to the naked savage, just as generating localized "gravity waves" and cloud seeding for the purpose of producing a world-wide flood would appear as a miracle to us. Who knows? I for one am not going to put the Creator God in a box.
And if you consider the astronomical odds of us even being alive (by chance) on a suitable planet (by chance) located in a quiet corner of a dangerously cold - or hot - and generally inhospitable universe (by chance), you could attempt to explain why our existence is "natural", but I don't don't accept the odds that it happened by "chance".
Knowledge, miracles - it's all relative...
Ya, they say it will allow new theories. Well how about proof of certain facts? Biblical ones? Evidence is all around us, yet people refuse to see.
The volume of the sphere beneath the deepest part of our oceans is many times larger than that needed to contain 3 times the volume of those oceans.
That’s not a theory, here in the world’s oil expert capital, we have known this for some time. There was no way there was that much “fossil” material below decks to do this.
“That’s not a theory, here in the world’s oil expert capital, we have known this for some time.”
Why does everybody on TV and in print still call it fossil fuel?
Back in the early 80’s I had a professor at a oil/mining engineering school talk about limitless oil. He made sense to me. Others (and most of the other profs) thought he was a crackpot. I think he was just way ahead of his time. Like most “crackpots”. I can’t recall if he was the same guy that said it was distributed in some sort of geometry? Like fractals I’m thinking - but I think the idea of fractals came later? (Nope - just googled it, fractals were “discovered” in 1975)
If there ringwoodite on Mars.
This new finding couldn’t have any relationship with the great flood during the days of Noah? I mean the Bible said the water “receded” which means it went somewhere else. But, I’ve been told by a liberal I know that “religion” is for the weak minded. Therefore, it would be weak minded of me to think that God did flood the earth and the waters receded back into the earth? So in conclusion, the only way to truly understand the greatness of God and gain wisdom I must accept that my mind is weaker than God’s.
Also somebody should make a movie like:
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052948/
Golly, it could have Pat Boone in it, too.
Ummm, if water's a byproduct of a chemical breakdown of rock... then Mars could have water....
Kick back and look at a starry sky. Or at your child. Kind of hard to argue with.
One of my favorite movies of all time.
Because everyone on TV and print are told what to call it. It’s all the same guys called left is good, right is bad, and abortion is a right. It’s all the same.
Thank you!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.