late beneath the surface of theEarth , there is a monolithic reservoir of water . It is estimated to contain three clip the amount of water of all the oceans on our control surface .
In 2014 , a team from the US used 2,000 seismometers to study seismal waves from over 500 earthquakes . By examining the upper of the wave at different profoundness , the team was able to determine what kind of rocks the waves travel through before reaching the sensing element . They found that some 700 kilometer ( 400 miles ) below our feet in the " transition zone " between the humbled Mickey Charles Mantle and the upper mantle was a rock called ringwoodite .
Ringwoodite only forms under the intense pressure find towards the centre of our satellite . Only one sampling from within the Earth – it has also beenfound in meteorite – has been discovered , trap insidea tiny diamond . Ringoodite contain water , not as liquid but trapped inside the molecular body structure of the minerals .
" The ringwoodite is like a sponge , soaking up piddle . There is something very extra about the quartz construction of ringwoodite that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap pee , " geophysicist Steve Jacobsen explain in astatementat the time . " This mineral can contain a lot of pee under conditions of the recondite mantle . "
Previous experiment propose that ringwoodite can hold back up to 1.5 percent water , and the seismic waves detected were consistent with the rock below our foot containing piddle . The squad estimated that if just 1 percent of the rock in the changeover zone is water , that would mean it incorporate three times more water than all the oceans on Earth ’s surface . This fit with their results .
" If there is a substantial amount of H2O in the transition zone , then some thaw should take place in orbit where there is flow into the lower mantelpiece , " seismologist Brandon Schmandt tell , " and that is consistent with what we found . "
Jacobsen believes that the study kick in to evidence that Earth ’s water " came from within , " he toldNew Scientist .
" I think we are finally seeing evidence for a whole - Earth urine cycle , which may help explicate the vast amount of liquid water system on the surface of our habitable planet , " Jacobsen added in a statement . " Scientists have been attend for this miss recondite weewee for decades . "
The study is issue inScience .
An early edition of this article was published inMarch 2023 .
