Unveiling Earth’s Hidden Oceans: New Evidence Points to Vast Water Reserves Deep Within the Mantle

Groundbreaking research has provided compelling evidence of a vast, watery environment extending deep into Earth’s lower mantle, approximately 410 miles beneath the surface. This discovery, detailed in a recent study, challenges previous understandings of our planet’s internal composition and its deep water cycle.

Scientists from the Gemological Institute of America made this remarkable finding by analyzing an exceptionally rare diamond sourced from the Karowe mine in Botswana. This particular gem, originating from a depth of 410 miles, encased a pristine sample of the Earth’s lower mantle. Analysis revealed the presence of hydrated minerals, including ringwoodite, enstatite, and ferropericlase, within the diamond’s inclusions.

These findings, published in the esteemed journal Nature Geoscience, strongly suggest that a water-based environment exists within the lower mantle, which constitutes a significant 56 percent of Earth’s total volume. Given that the deepest boreholes only reach about 7.5 miles, direct study of these immense depths has been impossible until now.

Lead author Tingting Gu from the Gemological Institute of America emphasized that the mantle slivers preserved within this diamond offer “factual evidence” of the lower mantle’s characteristics. “This is one of the great datasets for us to understand Earth’s mantle convection and water cycle, and scientists can directly use our result to build their geological models,” Gu stated. The research significantly enhances our comprehension of how water from surface oceans is transported deep into the Earth by hydrated minerals, only to return through volcanic activity.

The presence of water within the mantle is critical, as even small proportions can profoundly influence the physical and chemical properties of the mantle and its convection processes. Gu further explained that the depth at which water can be stored within Earth’s interior directly impacts the timescale of its return to the surface, thereby influencing the overall inventory of water on the planet’s surface and its distribution throughout the mantle. The coexistence of specific minerals like ringwoodite within the diamond provides definitive proof of this deep-seated watery environment, suggesting an unhindered passage of water and common upper mantle rocks through the transition zone into the lower mantle.

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