Huge 'Ocean' under the dry desert in China

Chinese scientists discovered huge amounts of groundwater far beyond the 5 largest lakes in the US at the Tarim basin desert, Northwest Xinjiang, China - one of the driest places in the world.

Discover the giant "ocean" in the driest desert in the world

Scientists discovered in the desert of the Tarim basin , northwestern Xinjiang, China has a huge amount of groundwater far beyond 5 of America's largest lakes. The event was announced yesterday, according to SCMP. Scientists say Tarim's submerged salt water may be 10 times the water of the Great Lakes (USA).

Ngu Dai Ho consists of 5 large lakes, with reserves of nearly 23,000 km2, accounting for 20% of the world's freshwater capacity. Meanwhile, Tarim is the world's largest basin on land, and has the largest Takla Makan desert in China. This is considered one of the driest places in the world . Scientists believe that water comes from towering mountains around the basin. The water dissolved from these mountains seeped into the basin.

"This is a huge amount of water ," said Professor Li Yan, who led the research program at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (Chinese Academy of Sciences). " Before, no one thought that there could be so much water under the sand floor. Our definition of the desert must change."

The great ability under the desert on Earth, hiding a huge amount of groundwater.(NASA photo)

The team accidentally discovered water. They have long been looking for signs of CO2 in some areas called "carbon swamps " to learn about climate change. For 10 years, Li's team found CO2 absorbed by marshes, but did not understand the cause. Most likely, the swamp holds carbon to prevent climate change. The team collected more than 200 samples of groundwater in different areas of the desert, and compared the amount of CO2 in the water sample to the amount of CO2 in the melting water from the peaks. As a result, an estimate of the amount of water absorbed into the basin.

Li said they will cooperate with other research groups, exploring the possibility of "ocean" under other large deserts . He said that the great possibility is below the deserts on Earth, hiding a huge amount of groundwater. According to the team's calculations, the amount of carbon in these " underground oceans " reaches one trillion tons, which is equivalent to the planet's " carbon loss ".

Previously, scientists also discovered that once existed the underground ocean on Jupiter's moon. The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) on March 12 confirmed Ganymede - Jupiter's largest moon - has an underground ocean with more water than on Earth, opening hopes of finding places in The solar system is suitable for life.