Know about five oceans on Earth? The sixth has just been discovered
There are five oceans on Earth: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Ocean. An international team of scientists has now found evidence of considerable quantities of water between the Earth’s upper and lower mantle.
The evidence was found during the analysis of a rare diamond that formed 660 kilometers below the Earth’s surface confirming the theory that ocean water accompanies subducting slabs and thus enters the transition zone. The new findings reveal that Earth's water cycle includes the Earth’s interior.
The study by the German-Italian-American research team has been published in the journal Nature, which states that the internal structure and dynamics of Earth have been shaped by the 660km boundary between the mantle transition zone and the lower mantle.
[...] The evidence points to water in the transition zone (TZ), the boundary layer that separates the Earth’s upper mantle and the lower mantle. The boundary is located at a depth of 410 to 660 kilometers, where immense pressure of up to 23,000 bar causes the olive-green mineral olivine to alter its crystalline structure.
Journal Reference:
Tingting Gu, Martha G. Pamato, Davide Novella, et al. Hydrous peridotitic fragments of Earth’s mantle 660 km discontinuity sampled by a diamond, Nat. Geosci. (2022). (DOI:
Nature Geoscience)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Wednesday October 05 2022, @08:00PM (1 child)
... The new findings reveal that Earth's water cycle includes the Earth’s interior.
All the hollow-earthers will be thrilled. Clearly confirmation.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Opportunist on Wednesday October 05 2022, @10:32PM
Just send the flat earthers after them and pass the popcorn, I want to enjoy the fight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2022, @10:10PM (3 children)
Why do people act like we don't have enough already? The whole universe is one great big bag of water, or maybe it's just a drop
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2022, @10:21PM
Some water is more premium than others. Like if you need a hyperdrive to get it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Thursday October 06 2022, @02:15AM (1 child)
we have plenty of salt water.
Of course we do not have a cheap, energy efficient way to remove the salt and other impurities in the quantity that we use/need for the earth's population.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2022, @07:06PM
It's in the air, it falls from the sky. Our failure to harvest it is not an engineering issue, it's just a disagreement over the price
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday October 05 2022, @11:40PM (2 children)
I wonder if anything could live down there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 06 2022, @12:14AM
In all likelihood extremeophile bacteria or similar organisms do live there. Unique life forms have been found in the rocks of the deepest gold mines....
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday October 06 2022, @11:11PM
It sounds like you doubt whether a Balrog could survive the watery depth. Fair point.
But there's probably a similar creature that is better adapted to water.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Funny) by stretch611 on Thursday October 06 2022, @02:18AM (1 child)
California (and the majority of the western US) should start drilling now before the Colorado river goes completely dry.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2022, @11:04AM
That might be a bit short. The article isn't really clear on it, and I don't know if the paper will be better, but it looks like the ocean is beneath Europe so the Californians will have to do some weird, less then straight, drilling or just go thru the entire planet.