Huge ocean beneath the earths surface

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1

I heard about this the other day.

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According to recent scientific discoveries, a massive “hidden ocean” exists deep beneath the Earth’s surface, approximately 700 kilometers below the crust, where water is trapped within the crystalline structure of a mineral called ringwoodite, making it significantly larger than all the surface oceans combined; this reservoir is considered a “hidden ocean” as the water is not liquid but absorbed within the rock’s structure.

Key points about this underground ocean:

  • Location:

Found within the Earth’s mantle, a layer of hot rock between the crust and core.

  • Mineral involved:

Water is trapped within the mineral ringwoodite.

  • Size:

This “ocean” is estimated to be three times larger than all the surface oceans combined.

  • Discovery method:

Scientists use seismic data from earthquakes to identify these water-rich rock formations.

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2

There is no man-made technology that can drill or even dive that deep into the earth’s crust to verify water exists within those minerals. I would support this hypothesis since volcanic lava flows like a liquid but at extremely high temperatures.

3

The original article was published in 2014. I wonder why it’s popping up again in news stories in 2024?
Here is the abstract (you can’t get to the full article without creating an account).
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1253358

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4

Interesting article but to be fair is not really an ocean lol kinda silly to call water that’s absorbed into rock an “ocean”. Gives the impression that there’s a giant sea of water like Atlantis or something lol

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