Discover the largest reservoir on Earth

Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico (USA) have recently shown that they have found a rare mineral and can prove the existence of a giant sea of ​​water deep underground below North America and about 643km from the Earth's surface.

This is considered to be the largest lake of the Earth when the amount of water contained in it can be equal to the amount of water that the continents on Earth combine.

Picture 1 of Discover the largest reservoir on Earth

This finding shows that water from the Earth's surface can be present at depths of tectonic plates and partially melted rocks found deep in the Earth's crust.

Scientists have long argued that water is trapped in a rock layer of the Earth's crust and is covered by many lower layers, covering above the depth of about 400-600 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

This is considered to be the first study to provide direct evidence that water may appear in the "transition zone" between the mantle layers of the Earth's crust and cover a large area.

Picture 2 of Discover the largest reservoir on Earth

Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen and geologist Brandon Schmandt of New Mexico University conducted a study of the rock crust under simulated pressure of 643km below the surface of the Earth and used a large amount of seismic data from USArray to find out. more clearly the nature of this mineral.

This new finding is evidence that water is "locked up" in Earth's rock crust in the form of ringwoodite - a rare blue-colored mineral commonly found in celestial fragments.

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According to researchers' calculations, only 1% of the water is in the "transition zone" , which equals nearly three times the amount of water in the Earth's oceans combined.

However, this water is not in liquid form, ice or vapor as we often see that has been compressed into stone, trapped inside the mineral molecule of the Earth-covered rock layer. Therefore, to exploit this compressed water source, we must melt it.