It seems like there are surprising science stories popping up every other day lately, all of which blow our little minds.
First, there was the discovery of a terrifying black hole pointing right at us, then there was a huge hole found in the sun and a lost continent found after being lost for 375 years.
Today, people are only now realizing that there is a huge ocean hidden beneath the Earth’s crust.
It turns out that there is a huge supply of water 400 miles underground stored in a rock known as ‘ringwoodite’.
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Scientists previously discovered that water is stored within the mantle rock like a sponge, which is not a liquid, solid or gas, but rather a fourth state.
The scientist paper titled ‘Dehydration melting at the top of the lower mantle’ was published in 2014 and laid out the findings.
There is three times more water under the surface than in the oceansiStock
“Ringwoodite is like a sponge, soaking up water, there’s something very special about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water,” geophysicist Steve Jacobsen said at the time .
“This mineral can contain a lot of water under deep mantle conditions,” added Jacobsen, who was part of the team behind the discovery.
He added: “I think we’re finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water cycle, which could help explain the abundance of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet. Scientists are looking for missing deep water this for decades.”
Scientists made the findings at the time after studying earthquakes and discovering that seismometers pick up shockwaves beneath the Earth’s surface.
From there, they determined that the water was held in a rock known as ringwoodite.
If rock contains only 1 percent water, that means there is three times as much water under the Earth’s surface as in the surface oceans.
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