Discover a vast 'Ocean' inside the earth

Scientists studied deep in the earth and they found evidence that there is a large reservoir located below eastern Asia, and the lake has the least volume of the Arctic Ocean. This discovery for the first time identified such a large source of water deep in the earth's mantle.

Look deep inside

Two scientists, Michael Wysession, geologist and Jesse Lawrence, analyzed more than 600,000 seismic episodes of seismic waves due to earthquakes moving around the earth and being placed by devices. all over the world

They noticed an area below Asia where seismic waves seemed to weaken and move slightly . 'Water reduces the speed of waves by a little,' explains Wysession seismologist. 'So the seismic wave is much weaker and the movement is slow, which matches the predictions of water in that area.'

Previous estimates have calculated that if a cold slab of the ocean floor sinks thousands of miles in the earth's mantle, high temperatures will cause water to accumulate inside the rock to escape completely.

'That's exactly what we pointed out here,' said Wysession. 'The water inside the stone layer sinks with the slate and the stone slabs are very cold, but the deeper the temperature, the higher the temperature of the stone and finally the stone becomes unstable and lose the water contained in it.'

Then the water rises into the upper area, and the area becomes flooded with water. (Above photo)

Although the rocks appear solid, the composition of some ocean floor rocks contains up to 15% water. 'Water molecules are really stuck in the mineral layer of rock,' Wysession explained. 'When you heat this mineral layer, it will dehydrate. This is like taking clay and heating it to remove water completely. '

Scientists estimate that as much as 0.1% of the sinking rock in the earth's mantle layer in the area below East Asia is water, and so it is estimated that there is about the same amount of water as the Arctic Ocean.

Beijing anomalous region

Mr. Wysession named the subterranean area "Beijing anomalous region " because the weakening of seismic waves was discovered at the highest level below the Chinese capital. For the first time, Mr. Wysession used this nickname throughout the presentation of his research at Peking University

'They thought it was very, very interesting,' said Mr. Wysession. 'China is more at risk of earthquakes than any other country in the world, so they are very interested in seismology.'

Water covers 70% of the earth's surface and one of its functions is to act as a lubricant for the movement of mainland plates.

Mr. Wysession said: 'Look at our sister planet, Venus. Inside Venus is very hot and dry and Venus has no stratigraphic tectonics. The whole water can be evaporated and without water there is no geological disc. The system is locked, like a flooded tinsmith who has no oil. '

Image of groundwater block under Asia. (Photo: National Geographic)