Massive Ocean Found Beneath Earth’s Crust; Will Water Shortage Crisis Be Resolved?

Bhubaneswar: At a day and age when growing population is posing a serious threat to natural resources on our planet, scientists have some good news for us.

With water shortage becoming a major crisis, scientists have discovered a massive ocean beneath the Earth’s crust.

As per these latest findings, there’s a huge supply of water stored in a rock known as ‘ringwoodite’ 400 miles below the Earth’s crust.

Earlier, scientists had discovered that water is stored inside mantle rock in a sponge-like state, which isn’t a liquid, solid or a gas.

The findings were published in the scientific paper titled ‘Dehydration Melting At The Top Of The Lower Mantle’ in 2014.

“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. This mineral can contain a lot of water under conditions of the deep mantle,” said geophysicist Steve Jacobsen.

“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,” he added.

The discovery was made by scientists while studying earthquakes. They found that seismometers were picking up shockwaves under the surface of Earth. These findings led to the conclusion that water was being held in the rock known as ringwoodite.

If the ringwoodite rock contained 1 per cent water, it means that there is three times more water under the Earth’s surface.