Beneath our feet is a vast underground ocean of water.

Despite the fact that scientists have long tried to studyother planets, our planet is still poorly understood. In particular, science does not know thoroughly about what is in the bowels of the Earth and what processes take place there. Therefore, we regularly talk about certain new discoveries of scientists. This time we will talk about a huge reservoir of water, which may be located deep in the bowels of the planet. According to scientists, it contains three times more water than all the oceans and seas on the surface. It may seem incredible, but scientists provide strong arguments in favor of this version. True, even if a huge amount of water under the Earth really exists, people are unlikely to be able to use it.

Deep in the bowels of the Earth, there may be a large amount of water

Rare mineral ringwoodite in the bowels of the planet

Modern technologies still do not allow to takesoil samples at a depth of hundreds of kilometers. The only way to know what is at such a depth is to analyze the speed of propagation of seismic waves. According to the parameters of these waves, scientists can roughly determine which rocks they pass through.

In 2014, American scientists usedmore than 2000 seismometers that recorded seismic waves that resulted from more than 500 earthquakes. Based on the data obtained, they concluded that in the transition zone, that is, at a depth of approximately 700 km, there is a rock called ringwoodite.

Like many other minerals found inin the bowels of our planet, ringwoodite cannot exist under normal atmospheric pressure. It is formed exclusively at high pressure, which is present in the bowels of the planet at great depths.

Scientists discover rare mineral ringwoodite inside diamond

It must be said that even if scientists couldto take soil samples from such a depth, they were unlikely to be able to investigate ringwoodite or other similar rocks. The fact is that as they are extracted to the surface, they would cease to exist as a result of the destruction of the crystal lattice. However, scientists still managed to study some of these minerals under normal terrestrial conditions.

This became possible due to the fact that undergroundminerals were enclosed in diamonds, which served as a protective shell for them, providing all the necessary conditions. Earlier we talked about two such minerals - davemaoite a few micrometers in size and the “Martian” mineral merrillite.

Water in the bowels of the Earth is enclosed in the mineral ringwoodite

How the underground ocean is connected to a rare mineral

The underground ocean, which we mentioned above, is notsplashing like oceans on the surface of the Earth. The water here is trapped within the molecular structure of ringwoodite. This mineral is like a sponge that absorbs water. As the researchers note, there is something special about its crystal structure that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water.

Previous studies have shown that ringwooditemay contain up to 1.5% water. These data are consistent with the results of the study of seismic waves. She also showed that the rock in the bowels of the planet contains water. Even if the rocks in the transition zone contain only 1% water, the total volume of water in the subsurface is three times the volume of the world's oceans, according to the team's calculations. This is reported in a study published in the journal Science.

It is quite possible that water was not brought to Earth with asteroids and meteorites, instead it could have arisen in the bowels of the planet.

How did water originate on earth?

According to one hypothesis, water originated on Earthas a result of the synthesis of hydrogen and oxygen, which were present in the cosmic gas and dust substance on the surface of a solid and hot planet. As we said, the first water existed in the form of steam, but our planet managed to condense it before the Sun increased its activity. Otherwise, the Earth could always remain a “steam boiler”, as we talked about earlier.

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There is also a version that the water was broughton the surface of the planet with asteroids and meteorites that crashed into the Earth. However, the presence of water enclosed in minerals at a depth of 700 km speaks in favor of the third version, which implies the formation of water in the bowels of the planet as a result of chemical reactions. But, it is quite possible that all three of these versions are actually true.