Earth is undeniably a water-dominated planet. When we compare our world to other rocky planets, our Pale Blue Dot seems to be brimming with water. Of course, some bodies in our solar system have far more H2O than we do (for instance, Europa). All the same, with approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface covered in water, the magnitude of the wetness is revealed. And luckily, this vast expanse of water is absolutely essential for life on Earth; without water, our planet’s existence as we know it would be non-existent. Because of this, scientists have been thrilled by the recent discovery made by geologists.
In the recent months, we have been utterly astounded by one extraordinary scientific story after another. A fearsome black hole pointing directly at us was discovered; an enormous hole in the sun was uncovered; and a missing continent that had disappeared for 375 years was located. Adding to the remarkable chain of findings, people have only just come to realize that a substantial underground ocean lies beneath the Earth’s crust.
A vast amount of water, equal to three times the volume of all of the planet’s oceans, has been identified by researchers from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois at a depth of 400 miles (700 km). The extraordinary discovery could be integral to unraveling the enigma of the origin of Earth’s seas, as well as comprehending life on Earth more thoroughly.
Presently, the most accepted explanation for the origin of our water is the ‘comet or asteroid’ theory. This asserts that, since the primordial inner solar system was excessively hostile for any water, the ice was developed farther out in the solar system and then brought to a much colder Earth via these heavenly objects.
This is corroborated by a scientific paper, ‘Dehydration melting at the top of the lower mantle’, released in 2014 which reports on these findings. After examining earthquakes, seismometers picked up vibrations under the Earth’s surface which established that water was trapped in the rock, called ringwoodite. If the rock held even one percent of water, it would mean there is three times more water underground than in the world’s oceans.
