Scientists have made an amazing discovery about water deep inside the Earth. They found that there could be several oceans’ worth of water trapped way below our feet, about 400 miles down. This discovery challenges what we knew about how water is spread out on our planet. The scientists found a special mineral called ringwoodite that helped them make this discovery.
The researchers who found this water are Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University and Brandon Schmandt from the University of New Mexico. They shared their discovery in a journal called Science. This discovery tells us more about how the Earth formed, what it’s made of, and how much water is stuck inside rocks deep below us.
Jacobsen explained that what happens deep inside the Earth affects what we see happening on the surface like earthquakes and volcanoes. He said that this discovery might help explain why there is so much water on Earth’s surface. Scientists have been trying to find this hidden water for a long time.
The scientists knew that there might be water deep in the Earth’s mantle, which is a layer between the upper and lower parts of the mantle, about 250 to 410 miles below us. But Jacobsen and Schmandt are the first ones to find proof of water on a big scale in this part of the Earth, especially under the United States.
The water they found isn’t like what we’re used to seeing on the surface. It’s not liquid, ice, or vapor. Instead, it’s trapped inside the minerals in the mantle rock. The extreme pressure and heat deep down cause water molecules to split and form something called hydroxyl radicals, which then get stuck in the mineral’s crystal structure.
One special mineral called ringwoodite is what helped them find this water. It’s a blue mineral that forms deep in the mantle, about 250 to 410 miles below us. Ringwoodite can store water inside its crystal structure. Jacobsen has been able to make this mineral in his lab, and he found that it can hold more than one percent of its weight in water.
