Earth's mantle may hold more water than we thought
Technology
A new study finds that Earth's mantle, thanks to a mineral called bridgmanite, holds way more water than scientists expected.
Bridgmanite makes up most of the mantle and can trap huge amounts of water deep underground.
A hidden stash of water
Researchers used high-pressure experiments to show that bridgmanite could store between 0.08 and 1 time the volume of all the world's oceans in the lower mantle.
That's up to 100 times more than earlier guesses.
Implications for our understanding of Earth
This discovery suggests Earth has a massive, hidden stash of water below our feet.
It could help explain how our planet cooled down, became habitable, and why its geology works the way it does, a reminder that there's still so much left to uncover beneath the surface.